Synopses & Reviews
Taking the Hard Road is an engaging history of growing up in working-class families in France and Germany during the Industrial Revolution. Based on a reading of ninety autobiographical accounts of childhood and adolescence, the book explores the far-reaching historical transformations associated with the emergence of modern industrial capitalism. According to Mary Jo Maynes, the aspects of private life revealed in these accounts played an important role in historical development by actively shaping the authors' social, political, and class identities.
The stories told in these memoirs revolve around details of everyday life: schooling, parent-child relations, adolescent sexuality, early experiences in the workforce, and religious observances. Maynes uses demographics, family history, and literary analysis to place these details within the context of historical change. She also draws comparisons between French and German texts, men's and women's accounts, and narratives of social mobility and political militancy.
Review
Taking the Hard Road opens up a comparative dimension that proves richly rewarding.
Mark Traugott, University of California, Santa Cruz
Review
This book contributes in original ways to working-class and gender history.
American Historical Review
Review
Provocative and important. Maynes adds a new and timely dimension to working-class historiography.
Journal of Social History
Review
A key text for research on the French and German proletarian autobiography from the late eighteenth to . . . early twentieth century.
German Notes and Reviews Provocative and important. Maynes adds a new and timely dimension to working-class historiography.
Journal of Social History This book contributes in original ways to working-class and gender history.
American Historical Review Taking the Hard Road opens up a comparative dimension that proves richly rewarding.
Mark Traugott, University of California, Santa Cruz
Description
Includes bibliographical references (p. 227-260) and index.