Customer Reviews

The French Revolution

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This is a short overview of the revolution written in Belloc's standard, delightful prose. It appears to be a book in one of those series one sees today made up of short works about Great Men (Winston Churchill, Napoleon, Jimmy Carter) or Great Things (Buddha, Imperialism, Peanut Butter) that seem to proliferate today. A wonderful introduction to this difficult, sprawling topic. It is an injustice that this work is out of print. Oh, and I certainly enjoyed Simon Schama's Citizens which does not disagree with this work in its essentials.

As expected with Belloc, the prose in this book is a delight to read. His main thesis gives the lie to the unsophisticated post-modern interpretation of Belloc as a right-wing idealogue. He eloquently manages to sympathize with both the Revolution and the Reaction (especially its Catholic elements.) This book, along with Belloc, deserves a little deeper thought and analysis than many of our post-modernist contemporaries seem capable of giving.