ABSTRACT
Michelet's output was phenomenal: histories of the Roman Republic, of France and of the French Revolution, a translation of Vico, textbooks, a life of Luther, an examination of the codes of medieval justice, polemical works attacking the Jesuits and the Catholic priesthood. The list is extensive and for the most part I have been alluding only to his publications of the Restoration and the July Monarchy. Between 1851 and his death—a period which falls largely outside the scope of the present book—he maintained this high level of activity, bringing out works of history, volumes of natural history as well as popular books on matters of morality such as L’Amour (1858) and La Femme (1859). Moreover, he was all the while consigning his private thoughts and musings, his dreams and his anxieties, to his Journal, and this, in printed form, runs to several thousand pages. Michelet's reputation as France's greatest historian is secure. 1
