This work examines how, in the months leading up to the French Revolution, both the royal government and its opposition relied heavily upon pamphlets to sway public opinion, and how the number of published pamphlets reached truly astounding proportions in late 1788 and early 1789.

"Using pamphlets, extensive primary sources, and research and views of well-known historians both cited in the text and heavily footnoted, Margerison explains how the Society of Thirty molded French public opinion... after the establishment... of the Estates General until August 4, 1789. Margerison questions the ideological motivations of crowd actions attributed to them by historians Furet, Halevi, Baker, and others." - CHOICE