Reviews for A Social History of France, 1789-1914

The average rating for A Social History of France, 1789-1914 based on 2 reviews is 4.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2018-12-25 00:00:00 Christopher Ryan This book took a lot longer to read than many of the more narrative French history books I've been plowing through, but not because it was less interesting. (Though you might think that.) Rather, as a textbook-style summary of an era, McPhee's book is a condensed distillation of the most interesting and important facts and examples from hundreds of independent sources ' so I could barely read a page without opening my laptop to take notes for my forthcoming French history podcast, The Siècle . In a refreshing contrast to many other histories, McPhee puts the political events ' all those revolutions and coups, empires and republics ' into the background and focuses on the lived experiences of ordinary people: rich, poor and in between, urban and rural, early and late. This surprisingly rich field gives him plenty of material to draw on, from nationwide government statistics to carefully researched microhistories of particular villages. McPhee weaves it all together into a few chapter-length essays focusing on particular groups and periods. You can learn about how much food peasants ate, when agriculture modernized, what kind of contraception women practiced, the economic impact of the Revolutionary seizure of property, and more. McPhee also adds a helpful "Further Reading" section at the end, listing many of his most helpful sources in both English and French. My only real complaint is that I think the book would have been improved by some aggressive sub-headers, breaking up his long chapters which otherwise just flowed organically from topic to topic. This would enable both more casual reading as well as making the book more useful as a reference (though it has a helpful and ample index). (It's also a little light on the years after 1880 ' a reflection of the fact that this was originally published as a social history of France from 1780 to 1880, and then expanded to 1914 for a second edition.) If you're looking for an overview of France in the "Long 19th Century" this could be an excellent first start, especially if you want to get beyond the politics and war that often dominate discussions of the period (without ignoring them entirely).

Review # 2 was written on 2020-04-27 00:00:00 Robert Warren Easily my favorite book about the French Revolution. It is one of the only I have read that is not defined by it's opposition to a Marxist reading. This one incorporates class analysis with a more contemporary, post-modern understanding of the 1789 revolution and beyond. Would highly recommend.