The Days of the French Revolution [Paperback]

Christopher Hibbert (Author)

Book Description

Release date: June 23, 1999 | ISBN-10: 0688169783 | ISBN-13: 978-0688169787

Works from Les Misirables by Victor Hugo to Citizens by Simon Schama have been inspired by the French Revolution. Now available for the first time in years, The Days of the French Revolution brings to life the events that changed the future of Western civilization. As compelling as any fiction thriller, this real-life drama moves from the storming of the Bastille to the doomed court of Louis XVI, the salon of Madame Roland, and even the boudoir of Marie Antoinette. Hibbert recounts the events that swirled around Napoleon, Mirabeau, Danton, Marat, and Robespierre with eyewitness accounts and his "usual grace and flair for divulging interesting detail" (Booklist). This trade paperback edition has twenty-eight pages of black-and-white illustrations, and will be published in time for Bastille Day.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

"Never was any such event so inevitable yet so completely unforeseen." Alexis de Tocqueville's 19th-century assessment of the French Revolution echoes the contemporary reaction to the monumental events that took place over 200 years ago. Christopher Hibbert's superb historical narrative The Days of the French Revolution captures de Tocqueville's immediacy but tempers it with the hindsight of history. Detailing events from the meeting of the Estates General at Versailles in 1789 to the coup d'état that brought Napoleon to power 10 years later, The Days of the French Revolution captures the passion and ferocity motivating the events and the individuals that most dramatically shaped the Revolution.

Originally published in 1990, The Days of the French Revolution maintains its supremacy among the plethora of French Revolution histories. An acclaimed author of over 25 historical and biographical studies, Hibbert presents complexly related events in a logical, readable format and supplies plenty of historical background and detail without sacrificing clarity or narrative flow. He writes for the general reader unfamiliar with Revolution history, introducing them to individuals as diverse as Marie Antoinette, the young lawyer Danton, the journalist Marat, and the Girondin, sans-culotte and extremist Enragé political factions, weaving their fates together, and adeptly illustrating how they influenced the Revolution and how the Revolution, in turn, changed their lives. Maps, illustrations, a chronology of principle events, a glossary, and a list of major sources supplement Hibbert's eight chronologically ordered chapters, and his prologue, which focuses on the reign of Louis XVI, sets the scene for the events of 1789. At the same time entertaining and informative, The Days of the French Revolution allows its readers to forget that they are reading a book of history. --Bertina Loeffler Sedlack

Review

"Mr. Hibbert is a remarkably good writer." -- -- Anatole Broyard, The New York Times

"Scene after scene with a dash appropriate to the onrushing events." -- -- The New York Times Book Review

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 384 pages
• Publisher: William Morrow Paperbacks (June 23, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0688169783
• ISBN-13: 978-0688169787
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 5.8 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (51 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #88,210 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

102 of 104 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars A Fine Narrative May 20, 2000

By Paul J. Rask

Format:Paperback

Christopher Hibbert's fine narrative about the French Revolution is an excellent way for the general reader to learn the essentials of the keystone event of modern European history. But for the French Revolution there would have been no Napoleon. But for the French Revolution there probably would never have been a Russian Revolution. But those are not the themes which play in the background of Mr. Hibbert's most-readable history. He lays out the panorama of the Days of the French Revolution in such such a way that one who wishes to know more about that great event can read about it -- cover-to-cover and then put this book down with satisfaction. At last the general reader will fully understand what is meant by "Thermidor", will sympathize with the unfortunate Louis XVI and come away with a new appreciation of his beautiful and misunderstood wife, Marie Antoinette.

The complicated personality of the tragic Robespierre enters the drama at the time appointed by history and Mr. Hibbert gives this austere, no-nonsense rascal his proper place at center stage. There is enough of a biography of him to round him out so that the reader can reach some conclusions as to how the Days of Terror came about under Robespierre's auspices.

The days of the French Revolution teemed with a multitude of monumental historical events crammed into a mere few years. Royalty was executed, wars were fought, governments fell, freedoms simmered, flourished and faded; all was turmoil. It is a wonder in this avalanche of world-shaking events how any writer could manage to sort them out and play them before the reader's eyes so engrossingly. But Mr. Hibbert does it and he does it well in this book that I can highly recommend.

68 of 69 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars 1790s Paris, You Are There March 22, 2001

By lisatheratgirl VINE™ VOICE

Format:Paperback

This is a great book to learn about the French Revolution. It's full of interesting characters and packed with nonstop action. The author doesn't analyze or judge from the vantage point of an armchair 200 years later. If you want to know what sort of people Marie Antoinette, Robespierre, Marat, Danton, and other names from history were, you'll hear it from their friends, enemies, relatives, neighbors, servants and clients. You get the feel for what it was like to be a lawyer, butcher, restaurateur, farmer, journalist in 18th-century France. You'll find out what it was really like to be imprisoned in the Bastille, to be pounding on your husband's locked door while a mob was trying to break your bedroom door down, to get up on a table and address a a riotous crowd for the first time in your life, and even what it felt, looked and sounded like to be guillotined. The author doesn't intrude on the story at all; he lets the facts speak for themselves. He doesn't moralize, you reach your own conclusions about what happens when mob rule takes over, when violence generates more violence, and the rules of law and order are abandoned. This is one of the best written history books I've read in a long time, as absorbing as any novel. I'd have hated to miss it and it's a great way to learn.

35 of 35 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Good Place to Start April 23, 2002

By John C. Bradley, Jr.

Format:Paperback

I read this book several years after reading Simon Schama's "Citizens," which is one of my favorite all time books. This book is much more of an overview of the French Revolution than Schama's book and is probabably a better place to start. While "Citizens" does more to place the French Revolution in the context of its time, Hibbert's book is more of a traditional narrative history. Still, its well written and extremely entertaining (like most of Hibbert's books) and I would recommend it to anyone wanting to get a good overview of the people and events of the French Revolution.