Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation by Joseph J. Ellis  (381)
$10.17
|
Gideon's Trumpet by Anthony Lewis  (22)
$11.16
|
Of Paradise and Power: America and Europe in the New World Order by Robert Kagan  (107)
$9.56
|
The United States of Europe: The New Superpower and the End of American Supremacy by T.R. Reid (76)
$4.99
|
The French Revolution and Human Rights: A Brief Documentary History (The Bedford Series in History and Culture) by Lynn Hunt  (1)
$15.95
|
This item is not eligible for Amazon Prime, but millions of other items are. Join Amazon Prime today. Already a member? Sign in.
|
|||||||||
Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought
Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
American historians have long appreciated France's contribution to the American Revolution, led by champions such as the Marquis de Lafayette and given full force by the combined Franco-American defeat of the British army at Yorktown. French historians have returned the favor by analyzing the contribution of American revolutionary thought to the French Revolution, which followed the American struggle for independence by only a decade.
American historians have long appreciated France's contribution to the American Revolution, led by champions such as the Marquis de Lafayette and given full force by the combined Franco-American defeat of the British army at Yorktown. French historians have returned the favor by analyzing the contribution of American revolutionary thought to the French Revolution, which followed the American struggle for independence by only a decade.
Susan Dunn adds a well-written, lively narrative history to the record, with a cast of characters that ranges from the austere warrior George Washington to the firebrand Robespierre. More importantly, she limns just how different the American and French revolutionary projects were. In her view, the American Revolution emphasized personal freedom, thanks in large measure to the arguments of philosophers mistrustful of government in any form (Thomas Jefferson and James Madison among them). For the French, she suggests, personal freedom was of less importance than consensus, public order, and economic democracy; of paramount concern was the incorporation of ordinary people, the Third Estate, into the state. Comparing the American Bill of Rights with the French Declaration of the Rights of Man, Dunn shows how these "sister revolutions" diverged. The result is an engaging work of political history, one that illuminates the events of later years on both sides of the Atlantic. --Gregory McNamee
From Publishers Weekly
The American and French Revolutions claimed the same Enlightenment ideals: freedom, equality, justice. Still, the two events were profoundly different in method and result. The American Revolution led to a well-reasoned public dialogue on the nature of democracy and the role of the fledgling government. This dialogue culminated first in the Articles of Confederation and then the Constitution, on which the country has been anchored securely ever since. The French Revolution, on the other hand, led to the height of unreasonableness: a bloodbath of recrimination followed by a fragile republic destined to yield again and again to upheaval. Williams College professor Dunn (The Deaths of Louis XVI) explores the roots of these differences, finding that they spring from differences in the basic philosophy of citizenship espoused in each embryo state. While the Americans believed individual rights to be paramount, the French insisted on the appearance of public unity. Individual liberty was no more valued in the early French Republic than it had been under the Bourbons, she explains: "Armed with the 'truth,' Jacobins could brand any individuals who dared to disagree with them traitors or fanatics," writes Dunn. "Any distinction between their own political adversaries and the people's 'enemies' was obliterated." And as Dunn observes, tyranny does not good nation-building make. Dunn's comparative analysis is solid and well articulatedAas far as it goes. A penultimate chapter, "Enlightenment Legacies," which treats the influence of the French and American experiences on subsequent revolutions from Russia to Africa, only begins to explore the legacies left by the sister revolutions. (Oct.)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.
See all Editorial Reviews
Product Details
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
|
Inside This Book Citations: This book cites 100 books | 11 books that cite this book Explore: Citations | Books on Related Topics | Concordance | Text Stats Key Phrases - SIPs: sister revolutions, new federal union, theoretic politicians, constitutional consensus, |