France in the mid-19th century was shaken by a surge of civic activism, the "ressurection of civil society". But unlike similar developments throughout Europe, this civic mobilization culminated in the establishment of democratic institutions. Philip Nord shows how France effected a successful transition from Louis-Napolean's authoritarian Second Empire to a functioning republic based on universal suffrage and governed by middle-class parliamentarians. His multidimensional narrative encompasses not only history and politics but also religion, philosophy, art, literature, and gender.