For a generation, the history of the ancien régime has been written from the perspective of the Annales school, with its emphasis on the role of long-term economic and cultural factors in shaping the development of early modern France. In this detailed 1995 study, Henry Heller challenges such a paradigm and assembles a huge range of information about technical innovation and ideas of improvement in sixteenth-century France. Emphasising the role of state intervention in the economy, the development of science and technology, and recent research into early modern proto-industrialisation, Heller counters notions of a France mired in an archaic, determinist mentalité. Despite the tides of religious fanaticism and seigneurial reaction, the period of the religious wars saw a surprising degree of economic, technological and scientific innovation, making possible the consolidation of capitalism in French society during the reign of Henri IV.

"This important advance in social and economic history will be the subject of much seminar-room debate." Choice

"This book is especially valuable for its rediscovery of the technological literature of the era and its demonstration of just how many contemporaries sought to develop innovative solutions to the economic problems of the time." Philip Benedict, Journal of Interdisciplinary History

"...Heller offers important perspectives that prompt us to reconsider the way in which we understand sixteenth-century France. He raises issues that he feels have been badly neglected and, accordingly, warrant reconsideration....Heller gives us a first-rate reassessment of early modern France and, above all, integrates science and technology with far-reaching shifts in the economic structure." Raymond A. Mentzer, The Sixteenth Century Journal

"...provides a well-rounded picture of a society in which ideas of technical progress and increasing production were beginning to find a place." Alex Keller, Isis

"Heller presents rich and little-known evidence for the century's technological fertility." Labor History

"His book contains many stimulating ideas..." William Beik, American Historical Review

"This fine study combines an erudite discussion of certain aspects of French history with a bold new interpretive framework. It will likely provoke much discussion among historians of early modern France, and it is an important work for other students of early modern Europe as well." Pamela O. Long, Renaissance Quarterly

"Henry Heller's book on the political economy of Renaissance France efficiently builds an argument okf admirable force." Ken Alder, Jrnl of Modern History

"...a powerfully different approach to the study of the early-modern French economy, in practice and in theory. Heller's work provids a much-needed starting point for a re-examination of the early modern French economy." James B. Collins, Journal of Economic History

"...one learns much from this important, interesting, and engaging book..." Cynthia M. Truant, Labor History