Journal of My Life

The autobiography of an 18th-century Parisian glassworker, this book provides a fascinating glimpse into working-class culture during the Enlightenment and a street-level view of the French Revolution. Traveling on foot for seven years on a journeyman's tour of France, Menetra details a worker's everyday experience and what it meant to be a man two centuries ago. Three themes predominate: male friendship and the ties created by laughter and good times; the violence and brutality of lower-class life; and the amazing degree of sexual freedom accorded to men in a sexually segregated culture. Although well-placed footnotes and an extensive commentary by French historian Roche could assist general readers, this is a book to be treasured by scholars and specialists. LIBRARY JOURNAL