Reviews for A short history of the French Revolution, 1789-1799

The average rating for A short history of the French Revolution, 1789-1799 based on 2 reviews is 4 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2015-07-27 00:00:00 Claire Grant This is a Marxist approach to the French Revolution, by one of the top scholars on the topic. And it is written for serious students. If you're looking for an armchair history, this is NOT it. Soboul's handling of the material not for someone who is completely innocent of its subject matter. It isn't impossible to absorb the contents of this book without prior knowledge, but you're going to find it heavy going if you're not already familiar with the French Revolution, Marxist historical analysis, or both. Rather than a pleasant introduction to the basic facts of the period, this volume is what you get in an entry-level course on French or Western European history, or more particularly in a low-level "honors" course, where your knowledge of basic events is likely to be established or supplemented by lecture from a professor. If you are used to the likes of Jared Diamond (of Guns, Germs and Steel fame), then you will find the writing in here a jarring shock, because this is written by an academic, for academics. Soboul is interested in discussing class struggle as the underpinning reason for the events discussed, not in holding beginners' hands. This was not written for a popular readership. A couple of other things that you should know: 1. This is a Marxist analysis. That doesn't mean it's Communist. "Marxist" in this context means "tending to explain events in terms of struggle or conflict between socio-economic classes." It's entirely possible for a committed capitalist to argue in Marxist fashion. 2. This is old-school history. That means there are lots of specific dates. There are lots of references to specific numbers and figures, especially with regard to monetary inflation, food prices, and wages. Specific names and places are mentioned. It's complicated further because the Revolutionary Government abolished the preexisting Julian calendar in favor of a new calendar. So after a bit, you get dates in both the revolutionary calendar and the Julian date. Now, having made all that clear, for what this is, it is really, really good.

Review # 2 was written on 2011-12-12 00:00:00 Sergio Salas This history is sooooo Marxist. That's not a bad thing - Soboul was one of the leading historians of the French Revolution and also a leading Marxist historian, and he followed Lefebvre is showing that Marxist contributions to the study of history are immensely useful in understanding things like this revolution. Still, it's kind of amusing, from 2011, to read bits of this - there are such classic Marxist comments, and classic lines about class consciousness, that almost feel cliched today... because they got used by people like Soboul to make important and influential points. Anyway. Soboul does make some really interesting points about the influence of the masses, and the sans-culloutes, particularly after 1791 or so - his discussion of the Girondins and Jacobins, and their different attitudes towards the masses, is perhaps a little bit too black and white but intriguing nonetheless. This is a really enjoyable overview of the French Revolution - and particularly readable given that it's a translation.