Politics, Culture, and Class in the French Revolution (Studies on the History of Society & Culture) [Paperback]

Lynn Hunt (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0520057406 | ISBN-13: 978-0520057401 | Publication Date: February 26, 1986

When this book was published in 1984, it reframed the debate on the French Revolution, shifting the discussion from the Revolution's role in wider, extrinsic processes (such as modernization, capitalist development, and the rise of twentieth-century totalitarian regimes) to its central political significance: the discovery of the potential of political action to consciously transform society by molding character, culture, and social relations. In a new preface to this twentieth-anniversary edition, Hunt reconsiders her work in the light of the past twenty years' scholarship.

--This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"A tour de force." -- New York Review of Books

"Exhilarating . . . . [A] work of first importance: not only essential reading for specialists, but an exciting introduction for outsiders." -- Times Literary Supplement

Praise for the first edition:) -- Revoew --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

About the Author

Lynn Hunt is the Eugen Weber Professor of Modern European History at the University of California, Los Angeles. She is the author of The Family Romance of the French Revolution (California, 1992) and the editor (with Victoria E. Bonnell) of Beyond the Cultural Turn: New Directions in the Study of Society and Culture (California, 1999). She was President of the American Historical Association in 2002-2003. --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Paperback: 270 pages
• Publisher: University of California Press (February 26, 1986)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0520057406
• ISBN-13: 978-0520057401
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.5 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.7 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #883,867 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Some Of The Inside Story Of The French Revolution, June 16, 2009

By 

Alfred Johnson (boston, ma) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Politics, Culture, and Class in the French Revolution: With a New Preface, 20th Anniversary Edition (Studies on the History of Society and Culture, No. 1) (Paperback)

This year marks the commemoration of the 220th Anniversary of the great French Revolution. Democrats, socialists, communists and others rightly celebrate that event as a milestone in humankind's history. Whether there are still lessons to be learned from the experience is an open question that political activists can fight over. None, however, can deny its grandeur. Well, no one except those closet, and not so closet, modern day royalists, and their epigones that screech in horror and grasp for their necks every time the 14th of July comes around. They have closed the door of history behind them. Won't they be surprised then the next time there is a surge of progressive human activity?

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All great revolutions, like the French revolution under review here, are capable, especially when they are long over, of being analyzed from many prospectives. Moreover, official and academic historian have no other reason to exist except to keep revising the effects that such revolutions have had on future historical developments. Left wing political activists, on the other hand, try to draw the lessons of those earlier plebeian struggles in order to better understand the tasks ahead. As part of that understanding it is necessary to look at previous revolutions not only from the position of how it effected the plebes but to look at from the position of those who do not see the action of the plebeian masses as decisive, at least for the French Revolution.

Professor Lynn Hunt in the book under review, "Politics, Culture and Class In the French Revolution" has carved out a niche for herself exploring the morals, mores and customs of the insurgent revolutionary forces as they tried to legitimize their seizure of power. Moreover, she has done some extensive work culling through the statistics and other documentary evidence to see who, according to her lights, the main beneficiaries of the revolutionary struggle were. For those partisans of later social movements and revolutionary movements the questions posed by Professor Hunt's study about the symbols and organization of power are a welcome addition.

If one, like this reviewer, spends his or her time looking at the base of society (here the urban sans culottes, the landless peasants and displaced village artisans)to see how those forces were brought to political life, organized, made politically effective (if only for a time, as noted above, before they as individuals like society in general also run out of revolutionary steam) and how they put pressure on their leaderships and how those leaderships responded to those pressures then one downplays the other social forces that are in play in a revolutionary period. Great revolutions, however, create all kinds of turmoil in layers of society that previously were dormant or were in control, although shakily. In that regard, virtually a sure sign that a pre-revolutionary situation exists is when a portion of the old ruling elite (or their agents) begins to make revolutionary noises. That is the value of Professor Hunt's study.

All political/social movements have their rituals, symbols and customs. Of special note here is Professor Hunt's focus on the work of the politician/artist David in creating many of the visual `myths' of the revolution. The book is loaded with many other interesting cultural tidbits, as well. For those of us who cherish the memory of the French Revolution as the forerunner of greater social movements this little work is a welcome addition. For those unfamiliar with the inner workings of the French revolution a more generalized study is warranted before you tackle this work. Then come back here and appreciate this more intriguing and specialized study.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A great addition to French Revolution Reading, December 14, 2006

By 

Lehigh History Student (Bethlehem, PA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Politics, Culture, and Class in the French Revolution: With a New Preface, 20th Anniversary Edition (Studies on the History of Society and Culture, No. 1) (Paperback)

If you want to understand how the French Revolution changed the common people of France this is a great way to start. The book is a bit dated but still stands up very well and Hunt's credentials are excellent. This book also talks about some of the symbols of the revolution and makes for an interesting analysis on the side. The politics goes through quite a bit of the revolution but it is fairly scattered (like most Hunt books are). If you are reading about the French Revolution this is a great addition to your reading list.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An important contribution to the scholarship and a great read, October 22, 2010

By 

J. Lustig (Los Angeles, CA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Politics, Culture, and Class in the French Revolution (Studies on the History of Society & Culture) (Paperback)

According to Hunt, the French revolution and the Napoleonic autocracy provided the models which all later revolutions and autocracies based their politics upon. This book makes a real contribution to the scholarship and is an important read for anyone who wants to understand how modern "politics" came into being.