Becoming Bourgeois: Love, Kinship, and Power in Provincial France, 1670–1880. By Christopher H. Johnson (Ithaca, Cornell University Press, 2015) 345 pp. $65.00

It is difficult to imagine a term that is more fraught with meaning and conflict than the word bourgeois. Ever since Karl Marx depicted the bourgeoisie as the class that tore asunder the feudal order and came to dominate the capitalist phase of history, social scientists have been debating its significance, most of them focusing on the economic and political realms. Johnson takes a different approach in his impressive new book by exploring how family life and kinship networks contributed to the “rise” of the bourgeoisie. A work of microhistory, Johnson’s study focuses on one family, the Galles, throughout several generations, relying mainly on letters to gain access to their private lives and kinship strategies. In 1670, the Galles were recently arrived Welsh immigrants to the Breton city of Vannes, where they ran a print shop. By 1888, the men of the family had held a wide variety of...