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9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
A useful short introduction, June 12, 2002
This review is from: The French Revolution, 1789-1799 (Paperback)
This rather brief book is a useful short introduction to the French Revolution. As a work of original scholarship it is not on the order of William Doyle's Oxford History of the French Revolution, though it is better footnoted than that volume. As a defense of "traditional," "Marxist" "non-minimalist" interpretations of the French Revolution as an important event that fundamentally changed France and the world for the better, McPhee's book does not go much beyond the chapters he devoted to the subject in his previous Social History of France. Nevertheless this is a helpful book. His chapter on the breakdown of the old regime, if it does not vindicate the idea of a class conscious bourgoisie confronting the aristocracy, does note the increasing rise of capitalism and consumer culture. The bourgeoisie did triple in size over the eighteenth century, and increasing literacy, readership and Enlightenment ideas did have a middle class component. There were increasing attacks on the aristocratic "luxury", while middle class sociability increased in institutions like freemasonry. McPhee also provides information about recent areas of interest like gender and even more so on the environment (more than 70% of the people who took advantage of the Revolution's law on divorce were female). He also provides interesting details, such as how the Right Wing Press in the early 1790s started attacking the revolutionaries as Jews and how their bloodthirsty language encouraged the panic that led to the September Massacres. Ironically, at the height of the Paris Terror of Spring-Summer 1794, the Convention reinstated more than 70 Gironde sympathizers whom Robespierre had saved from trial and execution. In conclusion, McPhee argues that the Revolution was an important event in French history. It had clear effects on demography, as contraception spread and the birth rate fell, on language, as more and more people spoke French (only half did in 1789) and in the decline of churchgoing. Although still important, the nobility clearly suffered a loss of influence, while the bourgeoisie gained and even the peasantry improved. McPhee might have quoted Paul Spagnoli's 1997 article in the Journal of Family History which noted a decline in mortality rates unmatched in Europe. But this is still a useful introduction to people otherwise unfamiliar with the French Revolution.
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Brief but Comprehensive, November 25, 2006
This review is from: The French Revolution, 1789-1799 (Paperback)
"The French Revolution, 1989-1999" is an enlightening book on the reasons, origins, development and repercussions of the French Revolution. This is a useful book for people who want to have a brief but comprehensive overview of this important event in the history of modern France, modern Europe and indeed the world. The author methodically explains the conditions in France before the revolutions, the suffering and deprivation of the majority of the populace, the excesses of the monarchy and its allies in the nobility and the church. He presents arguments and views on whether the French Revolution was in deed a revolution, why it happened the way it did, among other things. Some of the major players in the Revolution are discussed, highlighting their roles and contributions. Peter McPhee goes further to discuss wider and far reaching significance of the Revolution including such topics as its environmental impact, its implications on demography and family life as well as on religion in France and elsewhere. The book is recommended for those not familiar with the French Revolution or whose knowledge of the Revolution has gone "rusty".
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5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A useful, though necessarily limited, text, February 7, 2006
This review is from: The French Revolution, 1789-1799 (Paperback)
McPhee's book is a useful overview of the major events that transpired in France between the convocation of the Estates General in 1789 and the collapse of the Thermidorian regime. The author focuses on four major themes: 1) the rise of political cultre and the public sphere 2) gender 3) the origins of the Terror and 4) the role of the "crowd/people" in shaping events. Although the development of revolutionary culture is addressed, it appears mostly as an afterthought. Well suited (and intended) for adaptation as a college textbook, the book is recommended for undergraduates (and general readers) who are looking for a quick summary of the Revolutionary era.
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