“James Smith Allen presents readers with an engaging, kaleidoscopic account of the uphill and contentious struggle to include select women as full participants in the arcane brotherhood of French freemasonry.”—Karen Offen, author of Debating the Woman Question in the French Third Republic, 1870–1920
“A Civil Society is important because it connects the activism and writing of major figures in French women’s history with masonic networks and impulses. It accomplishes all of this by providing copious evidence presented with clarity.”—Bonnie G. Smith, author of Women in World History: 1450 to the Present
“In this ambitious new study, James Smith Allen seeks to understand how masonic sisters and their fellow travelers contributed to a more liberal republic and open society and engaged civic culture in the Old Regime and modern France. A Civil Society is a welcome addition to all those interested in the history of sociability, progressive politics, and civil society.”—Kenneth Loiselle, author of Brotherly Love: Freemasonry and Male Friendship in Enlightenment France
