This book recounts how and by whom authority was exercised in a rural commune from 1789 to the present, and the way a village - Rioz, in eastern France - governed itself in the course of local, regional, and national events. In order to write this book, the author, the Mayor of Rioz from 1967-1989, used minutes from every council meeting since the consulate.
Secretary of Industry and Commerce from 1959 - 1962 (during the presidency of General de Gaulle), Ambassador to Algeria from 1962-1963, Secretary of Social Affairs from 1966-1968, and Secretary of State from 1968-1969, Jean-Marcel Jeanneney was mayor of Rioz from 1967-1989.