Smack-Bam, or the Art of Governing Men collects sixteen tales by Édouard Laboulaye, a French law professor and jurist of the Second Empire, and an activist for abolition and women’s rights. Laboulaye’s creative work has been eclipsed by his political career, but in his day he was recognized as a writer of fiction, too, and especially known for his fairy-tales—with their satirical asides, irreverent humor, and free use of international sources, it is not hard to see why. 
Source : The Sly Modernity of Édouard Laboulaye’s Fairy Tales
