Reviews for The year of the terror

The average rating for The year of the terror based on 2 reviews is 4 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2020-07-12 00:00:00 Thomas Murphy I found this slim volume buried in the bookshelves at my parents' house--I assume I bought it on the cheap at the Strand many years ago and forgot about it. Being in the mood for some history after reading a few novels, I delved into it. The first few chapters are a quick, but fairly thorough and readable history of the ancien regime and the French revolution. Palmer does a great job of summarizing the issues involved and setting up what he sees to be salient factors in understanding why the revolution had disparate impacts in different countries across Europe. I was unaware of the extent of revolutionary movements and activities, even predating the Bastile, in other places like the Southern Netherlands, Poland, and Austria. The first chapter does a great job of analyzing politics, economics, and society across Europe, fitting the historical record into a meaningful pattern that does a fairly good job of explaining how and why the revolution was received and spread the way it did. The context is refreshing coming from more polemical takes on the subject. Palmer approaches the topic a lot more scientifically than most authors would, even fitting changing perceptions throughout time into his analysis. As succeeding chapters delve into more detail, the story gets messier and there is no real conclusion as to whether the French Revolution succeeded or failed, or whether its influence was positive or negative, or determinative in Italy or Germany. But the reader is nonetheless left with a better understanding of the topic for having read the book. In short, I think Palmer does a great job making a strong argument and backing it up with facts. He removes himself well from the sometimes thorny politics of the issues being discussed without shying away from coming to a conclusion. This is not a typical history (a reader really should be familiar with the period before reading this book) where the author is telling the reader a story. It's more of an argument, or philosophical discussion with the reader. For those interested in the period, the book is one of the more interesting interpretations of the era that I have read. ###

Review # 2 was written on 2012-08-28 00:00:00 Albert Acevedo من أفضل الكتب المترجمة إلى العربية كمرجعية تحليلية موجزة ومكثفة تربط بين موجة الثورات الأوروبية نهاية القرن الثامن عشر.