Republican passions demonstrates the crucial role of family and friendship networks in the creation of the French Third Republic. Based on the family archives of Leon Laurent-Pichat, journalist, Deputy and Life Senator, this study paints a rich picture of republican intimacy, sociability and political activity during the Second Empire and early Third Republic. It explores republican friendships and family connections as men and women worked together for the cause. In republican circles, as the book illustrates, the intimate and political realms were not separate but deeply intertwined and interdependent.