A People's History of the French Revolution

(Paperback)

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Description

The assault on the Bastille, the Reign of Terror, Danton mocking his executioner, Robespierre dispensing a fearful justice, and the archetypal gadfly Marat - the events and figures of the French Revolution have exercised a hold on the historical imagination for more than 200 years. It has been a template for heroic insurrection and, to more conservative minds, a cautionary tale.
Looking at history from the bottom up, Hazan presents the revolution as a rational and pure struggle for emancipation. In this new history, the first significant account of the French Revolution in over twenty years, Hazan maintains that it fundamentally changed the Western world - for the better.

Reviews

"Both an evocative narrative of a fascinating period and a passionate argument for the continued relevance of the revolution and its lessons." * Irish Times *
"A riveting popular history." * Spectator *
"A People's History of the French Revolution chronicles the 1789 upheaval in all its guillotine gore and popular fury... The combination of bottom-up testimony with quick authorial intelligence lends the history a vivid immediacy." -- Ian Thomson * Independent *
"A vivid, lucid, informative, detailed account of the French Revolution." * Reviews in History *

Author Bio

Eric Hazan is the founder of the publisher La Fabrique and the author of several books, including History of the Barricade and the highly acclaimed The Invention of Paris. He has lived in Paris, France, all his life.