Revolutionary France 1770-1880 (History of France) [Paperback]

François Furet (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0631198083 | ISBN-13: 978-0631198086 | Publication Date: November 14, 1995

Revolutionary France is a vivid narrative history. It is also a radical reinterpretation of the period, and testimony to the power both of ideas and of personality in movements of the past.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Historians of modern France know that the 19th century unfolded like a slowmotion replay of the great revolution of 1789. What is unique and original about this political history is that it places the revolutions of 1789, 1830, 1848, and 1871 within one overarching democratic tradition. Furet (history, Univ. of Chicago, and director of studies at the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales, Paris), a noted scholar of the period, theorizes that only the victory of republicans over monarchists in 1876-77 solidified and achieved the ideals first envisioned in 1789 of civic equality and political liberty. His interpretation challenges the traditional view that the Napoleonic years "closed" the revolutionary era. This sweeping yet richly detailed narrative history of French democracy during the 19th century should interest students of French history as well as cultural and political historians.
- Marie Marmo Mullaney, Caldwell Coll., N.J.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

"An outstanding work of synthesis and imagination." Ian McIntyre, The Times

"This brilliant book by one of France's leading historians is the second to be published in a five-volume History of France from 987 to 1987. It is as elegantly written as it is translated. The style is lively." Sunday Telegraph

"Everyone interested in the French Revolution and its consequences should read this important, stimulating and accessible book." Times Literary Supplement

"Anyone with an interest in the period will find, along with a rich and powerful narrative, some remarkably stimulating, profound and humane reflections on France's complex political experience." Times Higher Education Supplement

"An impressive, even dazzling achievement." London Review of Books

"Francois Furet has a good claim to be considered the leading living historian of the French revolution. A very well written book, skilfully translated by Antonia Nevill." History Today

"The bicentennial of the French Revolution has brought forth many fine histories of that pivotal event in as many languages. But none has attained the scope of Furet's volume in the projected five-volume history of France from 987 AD to 1987. Superbly translated from the French by Antonia Nevill, Furet's handsome volume charts a critical century in that 1,000 years." Journal of Interdisciplinary History

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Product Details

• Paperback: 640 pages
• Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell (November 14, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0631198083
• ISBN-13: 978-0631198086
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 1.4 x 9.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #924,889 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars comprehensive political science, November 28, 2007

By 

J. Stanforth "TE Chance" - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Revolutionary France 1770-1880 (History of France) (Paperback)

The fourth book in The History of France series, all written by eminent french historians, is not what American readers will expect from a traditional survey. Instead of a catalogue of events leading the narrative, Furet focuses almost exclusively on the development of political thought throughout the 19th century and its practical consequences on the compostion of successive governments and their oppositions. Assuming familiarity on the part of the reader, Furet mentions events only as they correspond to his grand political science narrative.
Beginning with the ancien regime we see rigid class stratification bend under the debates on the nature of sovereignty and liberty. The grand stage of the French Revolution serves as the laboratory for class warfare and transformation, and the birthplace of class consciousness and new everchanging political identities contingent on men and events. Furet illuminates how the French continued to battle over the issues and vendettas chrystallized by the Revolution throughout the 19th century. The battle lines are not manichean as Royalists split amongst Bourbons and Orleanists, and republicans between 1789 and 1793. And within each of those subcategories are born further multiplicities and loyalties across class boundaries.
As France modernizes the bougeoisie become more conservative and the general consensus becomes a search for the paradoxical combination of liberty and law. 1793 without the terror, 1848 without the July Days and socialism. For royalists of all stripes the issues revolve around the best form of monarchy in a modern society, to protect property from the growing strength of the populace.
Furet also portrays the evolution of historical accounts by the great academic politicians from Thiers to Toqueville, illuminating their struggle to define the Revolutionary heritage within their contemporaneous paradigms. This results in a seemless work of historiagraphy interwoven with history as it was made by the historians themselves.
While not incredibly informative on the minutae of the period the book is an indispensable introduction to the political and intellectual underpinnings of revolutionary France.

4.0 out of 5 stars Impressive, but not for newcomers to French history, September 26, 2010

By 

G. Mitchell (Baltimore, MD) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Revolutionary France 1770-1880 (History of France) (Paperback)

I'll second TE Chance's comments, adding only that readers coming to the French Revolution for the first time should not start with this book. Furet does indeed assume quite a high level of knowledge of the revolution among his readers. It is not so much a history of the revolution as it is a history of the IDEAS of the revolution, and how they morphed and interacted with events over time. It is long, densely written, and can be quite demanding of the reader's concentration. Those interested in a more straightforward chronology and description of the events of the revolution would be better served by a book like Simon Schama's CITIZENS, for instance.