Product Description

This new edition of the most authoritative, comprehensive history of the French Revolution of 1789 draws on a generation of extensive research and scholarly debate to reappraise the most famous of all revolutions. Updates for this second edition include a generous chronology of events, plus an extended bibliographical essay providing an examination of the historiography of the Revolution. Opening with the accession of Louis XVI in 1774, the book traces the history of France through revolution, terror, and counter-revolution, to the triumph of Napoleon in 1802, and analyses the impact of events both in France itself and the rest of Europe. William Doyle shows how a movement which began with optimism and general enthusiasm soon became a tragedy, not only for the ruling orders, but for the millions of ordinary people all over Europe whose lives were disrupted by religious upheaval, and civil and international war. It was they who paid the price for the destruction of the old political order and the struggle to establish a new one, based on the ideals of liberty and revolution, in the face of widespread indifference and hostility.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #39195 in Books
• Published on: 2002-11-28
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 496 pages

About the Author
William Doyle is Professor of History, University of Bristol. His other books, published by OUP, include Origins of the French Revolution, Old Regime France 1648-1788, The Old European Order 1660-1800, and The French Revolution: A Very Short Introduction.

Customer Reviews

The comprehensive guide to the French Revolution
From the opening description of the accession of Louis XVI, Doyle's work of outstanding scope and depth cuts to the heart of the historiographical debate surrounding one of the most written about periods in history. His narrative style is niether overtly symplistic or inaccesable to newcomers to the topic but commands an authority of understanding and empathy which is compelling and fascinating. Doyle draws the reader into events such as the storming of the Bastille, the emblem of the fight for liberty, egality and fraternity, and later the disillusionment of the terror and the collapse of the new order. Throughout Doyle balances the different arguments from both the Marxist and revisionist camps producing a convincing and superbly supported study. If you are to read one book on the most controversial event in history make it "The Oxford History of the French Revolution". If you feel you need to know more, read it again.

Very reliable, a little workmanlike
One can't complain about this book's factual accuracy or its well-balanced analysis. For a newcomer to the story of the French Revolution, this would be a good place to start. But for those who already know something about the subject, the book is a little uninspiring. One craves for the kind of arresting detail that one finds, for example, in the works of Schama and Cobb.

A very English view
A thorough English, empirical history of the Revolution. Some of the excitement of the Revolution may be lost in the narrative(unlike the author's exellent Origins of the French Revolution), but the detail and authority it exudes make this an essential text: the thickness of the paperback (and the difficulty in keeping it open!) may make the hardback a better investment.