Here, in the first English edition of Benedetta Craveri"s recent scholarly study, Civiltà della conversazione, he describes the world of women and French salons in the 17th and 18th centuries. Salons brought together not only intellectuals (Voltaire was a frequent and much sought-after guest) and socialites, but also members of the political and military worlds. The salons allowed differences between these various powerful sectors to be resolved through the art of conversation rather than through the art of war. This book describes in nonacademic writing the women and the salons, the guests, the conversations, and the political and social environments of the ancien régime.