Product Description

This book provides a succinct yet up-to-date and challenging approach to the French Revolution of 1789-1799 and its consequences. Peter McPhee provides an accessible and reliable overview and one which deliberately introduces students to central debates among historians. The book has two main aims. One aim is to consider the origins and nature of the Revolution of 1789-99. Why was there a Revolution in France in 1789? Why did the Revolution follow its particular course after 1789? When was it 'over'? A second aim is to examine the significance of the Revolutionary period in accelerating the decay of Ancien Regime society. How 'revolutionary' was the Revolution? Was France fundamentally changed as a result of it? Of particular interest to students will be the emphasis placed by the author on the repercussions of the Revolution on the practives of daily life: the lived experience of the Revolution. The author's recent work on the environmental impact of the Revolution is also incorporated to provide a lively, modern, and rounded picture of France during this critical phase in the development of modern Europe.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #429530 in Books
• Published on: 2001-12-06
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 240 pages

About the Author
Peter McPhee was educated at the Universtity of Melbourne. He taught at La Trobe University (Melbourne) and the Victoria University of Wellington (New Zealand) before returning to the University of Melbourne, where he has held a Personal Chair in History since 1993. He has published widely on the history of modern France, notably, 'A Social History of France 1780-1880' (London, 1992) and Revolution and Environment in Southern France, 1780-1830' (Oxford, 1999).

Customer Reviews

Nicely crafted summary of the Revolution's main themes
It's not easy to say much new about the French Revolution in a book of scarcely more than 200 pages, but McPhee gets round this problem by quoting from plenty of well-chosen original sources to retell the familiar narrative. That's one strong side of the book. Equally welcome is the emphasis on how the Revolution was experienced at provincial level rather than just in Paris. If one or two doubts linger, they concern a) a certain undertone of political correctness (were French women really such angels of ideologically progressive behaviour in this decade?); and b) a sort of sub-Marxist class analysis (was the "bourgeoisie" really a class at all?).