The author brings to the forefront key issues that helped shape the political process of the time and is to be commended for overcoming administrative and stereotypical difficulties in putting together a widely encompassing and significant work. The first half of the book describes the disruptive impact of changing economic patterns on the old socio-political order from the French occupation and subsequent restoration, social crisis, and civil war. The second half, dealing with the issues of political opposition, labor organization, and positivistic criminology, sometimes loses itself in its complexity; the themes of disorder, elites, and the State become less clear and fall short of the evidence needed to support its claims. The author ambitiously attempts to cover the entire country and therefore has consulted mostly secondary sources, but often misses key printed primary sources which could have been useful. Overall, however, the work's breadth and daringness outweigh its shortcomings.