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The French Revolution: Recent Debates and New Controversies (Rewriting Histories)

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J.M.Roberts notes in another book called "The French Revolution", "In one comprehensible sense the French Revolution is no longer a historical subject, for it can no longer be understood and explained as a unified and cohesive whole even by specialists. Scholars must specialize within the events we call `the Revolution' and even then they will find it hard to keep up with the flood of relevant publications."
To make matters worse the issue of interpreting the French Revolution, and the history thereof, is almost as complicated as the events themselves. It is close to unsafe for innocent minds to venture here without a bird's eye view of the history of interpretations. These, once exposed to view, clearly follow a depressing ideological sequence in lockstep with the politics of the twentieth century through the Cold War. This book is a useful guide to the main stages of the debate from Mathiez to Furet, and the conservative and neo-liberal restorations filled with much smirking over the sansculottes and hints the Revolution should never have happened. Now a new more liberal vein is making a comeback. In any case, this is a handy text for getting oriented in a literature of unreasonable size and much sophistry.

When I first studied the French Revolution in a high school history class, I was trying to figure out the "what" of the Revolution - what happened, what didn't. If there's anything that this anthology drove home, it's that the "how," "why," "for what purpose," and "so what" of the Revolution are the much more difficult, important, and decidedly interesting questions. As Francois Furet once implied in an essay anthologized in this anthology, the French Revolution is complicated not simply because it was a series of complicated events, but especially because it was hard to understand and interpret. Why did the Revolution start, who started it, and why? Was it a success or a failure - and what would either mean? What's absolutely wonderful about this anthology is that it gives every reader, PhD or high school student, a survey of some of the most important interpretations and debates occurring right now. Kates' introductions are very helpful in supporting the reader through some rather complicated arguments without being intrusive. The collection as a whole really helped me see some general trends in the debates, and the politics behind them. While I don't claim to understand all French Revolution historiography now (I'm not that smart) this anthology was very useful in helping me sort out who thinks what and (maybe more importantly to the gossip in me) why they think that. Really, an excellent work.

Compilation of theses on the cause of the French Revolution ranging from Hobsbawm's neo-Marxist view and Tackett's neo-Liberal stance to the revisionism of Colin Lucas. Numerous different theories that caused the beginning of the end of monarchial rule. Each thesis is presented by a well-renown scholar in the area of the French Revolution who provide their unique view of the cause. A well balanced presentation of the subject used as an in-depth study.