Western Civilization II / Unit 6 WC2 0506 short lesson, about 20 seconds
Coffee Houses and Salons: Women as Moderators
Captions available
The idea
English coffee houses charged an entry fee, poured unlimited coffee, mixed the classes and stocked the periodicals. French and Central European salons were aristocratic, philosophes reading their work aloud, and in most cases led by women, whom the anchor calls the best moderators.
In practice
Mme Geoffrin's salon, in the anchor's illustration.
Where people slip
Women ran the rooms; philosophes still wrote against them as peers.
Your place on the trail
Every lesson rests on earlier ones and opens later ones. Tap any to jump.
Something wrong in this lesson? Flag it