Customer Reviews

Barricades: The War of the Streets in Revolutionary Paris, 1830-1848

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I came to Harsin's BARRICADES: THE WAR OF THE STREETS IN REVOLUTIONARY PARIS, 1830-1848 by way of a musical. From the moment I first witnessed its performance, Boubill and Schonberg's LES MISERABLES, inspired by Victor Hugo's novel, has held me in thrall. The musical is nothing short of magnificent in its portrayal of growing despair leading to revolutionary explosion among the proletariat and the idealistic students who identify with the "noble workingman." It is relentlessly realistic in its depiction of the crushing of that revolution by the State, yet ends with the inspiring challenge to "be strong and stand with me" to achieve a better world "when tomorrow comes." However, for all my admiration of this musical, I could have explained very little of the actual history that gave rise to it, and that is why I came to Harsin's book.

I've included this introduction so that those who may read this will understand that my reaction to BARRICADES is not that of the historian or the specialist in the evolution of French government. Indeed, it seems to me that concentrating one's interest in early to mid-nineteenth century French politics would likely appeal to very few academicians. My reactions to the book are those of a general reader, one who was drawn to what is really a very specialized study by a desire to understand the historical reality behind a widely read novel and the musical spun from it.

My goals were very largely met, for I now have a much better understanding of the tumultuous succession of monarchies, empires, and republics that characterized that period of French politics and governments. Harsin puts human hands and faces on sterile historical facts and events that are more or less reported in world history textbooks that most American high school students must struggle through. The competing societies and clubs, the ambiguous and changing fealties of the Parisian national guard, the waxing and waning of moderate and extreme republican factions, the growth of socialist and communist groups, and the intentional exclusion of women from the masculine society of republican politics all emerge from the veil of history to present a picture of a society in political and social upheaval. We also see the bitter irony in that the abdication of King Louis-Philippe brings no reward to the militant montagnard republicans, whose further attempts at social revolution are brutally suppressed by the moderate republican government that succeeds the monarchy.

As with my feelings of satisfaction, my frustrations with Harsin's book are those of a general reader and are likely not shared by competent historians. She occasionally refers to events ("Bloody Week," for example) that are outside the period illuminated by her book. Inasmuch as I have no idea of the meaning of most such events, I'm at a loss as to their significance to the history at hand. Brief explanatory footnotes would have been helpful in such cases. Harsin also feels free to include quite a few French terms that she feels would suffer a loss of nuance through translation into English. Inasmuch as quite a few years have passed since I grappled with the French language in the university, I found that reference to my well-thumbed translating dictionary was an occasional necessity. Explanatory footnotes would, once again, have sped up the research process. My final criticism is merely that the wealth and depth of detail in Harsin's book may bog down the general reader who is perhaps more interested in a larger picture of the republican movement in the era. I say this in full awareness that a professional historian would likely find this to be another strength of the book. However, from my own limited perspective, I must judge the overall readability of the book at three stars and its research and detail at five, hence my "compromise" rating of four. If you, like me, find yourself emotionally captivated by LES MISERABLES, novel or musical, I believe that you will find Harsin's account of the real history behind it to be worthy of your reading time and effort.

This is a very good history of the revolutionary turmoil in the period between 1830 and 1848, with the trials and tribulations of the Montagnard movement centerpiece to the account. The left seems discredited now, but if we consider the endless reactionary attempts to foment difficulties at the birth of republican government we can see the heroic quality of the period beyond the incidents of (endless) failure. This period also illuminates the writings and thought of Marx who is the child of this generation and a participant in this revolutionary drama at the rising moment of industrial/capitalist civilization. We ouwe a debt to this classic period when the conservatives resisted the birth of democracy every step of the way. Class struggle was no fiction in this period, and the naked combat, betrayal, and exploitation of class and class division in age of the barricades vividly illustrates the Marxian analysis, whatever one's view of Marx's later theories.

Victor Hugo's fictional account of the student uprising of 1832 in Les Miserables is so vividly written that it will always form the images of 19th Century French republicanism in the popular imagination.

Jill Harsin's barricades is a good historical overview of the same era. It moves a little too quickly and is drying written in parts, but since it's one of the only detailed accounts of the movement that existed between the revolutions of 1830 and 1848 in English, it deserves 5 stars.

Among other things, you leave wondering if all of those tourists snapping photos of Mont Saint-Michel are aware that all through the 1830s and 1840s it was used as a concentration camp for political prisoners.

August Blanqui, an important but forgotten historical figure (the real precursor to Lenin), is discussed in great detail.