Léon Harmel: Entrepreneur as Catholic Social Reformer (Catholic Social Tradition) - Softcover

Coffey, Joan L.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 026815919X ISBN 13: 9780268159191

Publisher: University of Notre Dame Press, 2003

Synopsis

"Coffey does a masterful job of situating Léon Harmel-his life, his work, his ideology-in the context of French political and social turmoil in the last third of the nineteenth century. More than a Catholic paternalist, Harmel created a model 'earthly paradise' for his workers, drawing on principles of utopian socialism to give labor control over the factory environment. Harmel's effort to lay the groundwork for class conciliation drew praise even from leading Socialists, and his legacy continues in the contemporary world. Coffey's extraordinary synthesis of scholarly works on social, gender, and labor history is as impressive as her original archival research, making this book an important resource for any historian of France or of social issues. Beautifully written, it is also a great pleasure to read." -Elinor Accampo, University of Southern California

About this title

Review:

"Léon Harmel makes a major contribution to understanding the Catholics social tradition by documenting his significant influence on Catholic social teaching. [W]e can be grateful for the legacy of [Joan Coffey's] impressive scholarship. Coffey has produced an impressive intellectual biography of Léon Harmel." --Cistercian Studies Quarterly--Cistercian Studies Quarterly

From the Back Cover:

"It is to the credit of his biographer that [Coffey] turns to the best sources so as to give us an exact account of a man of action who engaged in the debates of his time and devoted himself to those undertakings that he knew he could see through." --Journal of Markets and Morality

"Leon Harmel makes a major contribution to understanding the Catholic social tradition by documenting his significant influence on Catholic social teaching. [W]e can be grateful for the legacy of [Joan Coffey's] impressive scholarship. Coffey has produced an impressive intellectual biography of Leon Harmel." --Cistercian Studies Quarterly

"This model of careful scholarship and felicitous style deserves to be read by all students of modern French history. Essential." --Choice

"Joan Coffey's book on Leon Harmel is a remarkable achievement in a number of ways. It provides a credible portrait of a French industrialist, turning the flat, cardboard caricature of the 'industrial bourgeoisie' into something both singular and complex. It enriches labor history and social history by wedding them with cultural history. It also reminds us that the tensions between corporate culture and employee autonomy are not of recent invention." --Raymond Jonas, author of France and the Cult of the Sacred Heart

"Coffey does a masterful job of situating Leon Harmel--his life, his work, his ideology--in the context of French political and social turmoil in the last third of the nineteenth century. Coffey's extraordinary synthesis of scholarly works on social, gender, and labor history is as impressive as her original archival research, making this book an important resource for any historian of France or of social issues. Beautifully written, it is also a great pleasure to read." --Elinor Accampo, University of Southern California

Joan L. Coffey (1926-2013) was associate professor of history at Sam Houston State University, Huntsville, Texas.

About this edition

• Publisher: University of Notre Dame Press
• Publication date: 2003
• ISBN 10: 026815919X
• ISBN 13: 9780268159191
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 360