This French-language study examines the settlement of Portuguese migrants in Champigny-sur-Marne, focusing on the period when many families lived in makeshift barracks and informal housing on the outskirts of Paris. It reconstructs the conditions of arrival, work, community formation, and everyday life within a working-class suburban landscape shaped by postwar migration and housing scarcity. The title’s reference to “the time of the barracks” points to a transitional era in French urban and social history, when immigrant communities helped transform the suburbs while also confronting precarious living conditions. The book is especially relevant to readers interested in migration history, Portuguese communities in France, suburban development around Paris, and the lived experience of workers and families adapting to a new social environment.