Extremely useful book about the life of servants in 19th century France -- this information is hard to find elsewhere. Sometimes the authors go overboard in trying to emphasize how horrifically exploited the servants were -- certainly it's a valid point, but they oversell it slightly.

My main complaint is how much information is missing -- really, this would need to be a series of volumes in order to be even close to complete. But it's a good start, and I haven't found a better resource. ( )