This revisionist book shows how France's haute bourgeoisie understood and responded to the threat of revolution it believed it faced in the 1890s. The essence of the threat was that under the regime of the Third Republic the non-wealthy might come to control government through the power of the vote and employ a graduated income tax to destroy the wealthy. This book examines, in detail, the battle over the income tax which was the main political issue in France during this time but which is virtually absent from histories of the period. It also explains how the Dreyfus Affair has mistakenly been considered to have been the central event of the period.