One of the great landmarks of modern history publishing, Simon Schama's Citizens- A Chronicle of the French Revolution is the most authoritative social, cultural and narrative history of the French Revolution ever produced. Schama takes 700 odd pages to cover the period from 1778 to the death of Robespierre in 1794, something that other no less respectable historians manage to do in a fraction of the space. Humor, and an eye for detail, lightens the tone of what is, at times, a very somber picture of humanity. Of course, I've always had the basic highlights: the fates of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette, the tale of Charlotte Corday (she was on Blue Peter, wasn’t she? In a way Schama presents the Revolution in terms of melodrama, the good rationalists against the bad irrationalists. Which is an unsettling bias, because, while the French revolution and Reign of Terror were undoubtedly violent and insane, and while the guillotine did herald the mechanized mass-death that characterizes the 19th century and beyond and that reached perhaps its most chilling modern incarnation in the gas ovens of the Holocaust, nonetheless the ideals and aims of the revolution can't really be compared to those of National Socialism and it's a bit disingenuous, not to mention kind of icky, to so firmly compare the two. The victory of the latter is still seen in the French constitution and French attitudes towards regional cultures and languages - after all 53 of the 89 départements at the time of revolution were non-French speaking. Absolutely. With the emphasis on individuals and their actions, the collective becomes little more than the 'mob' equated with irrational violence - that's the case whether the mob is revolutionary or counter-revolutionary. CDN$ 34.00: CDN$ 20.05: MP3 CD, Audiobook, MP3 … This is an almost epic narrative of the age. For one thing he scrupulously avoids any kind of schematization, any form of large structural overview, instead concentrating on what indeed he declares it to be in the title, a chronicle, a careful catalogue of events, without giving them ideological interpretation. Violence was no aberration, no unexpected skid off the highway of revolution: it was the Revolution - its motor and, for a while, its end." To see what your friends thought of this book, The Coming of the French Revolution by lefebvre. [1,400 dead isn't very many by contemporary standards, but I ask you to bear in mind that the modern age was only just beginning, in the future people would do better. English 0679726101. The reality, of course, was far more complicated, and Simon Schama’s, Thanks for this. From one of the truly preeminent historians of our time, this is a landmark book chronicling the French Revolution. Consulter l'avis complet, The most authoritative social, cultural and narrative history of the French Revolution, and one of the great landmarks of modern history publishing. Simon Schama was born in 1945. Had I not found it in the Oxfam bookshop (hardback £2.99), I might never have got round to plugging this enormous great gap in my knowledge of essential history. I bought this book when it came out in 1988 for the 200th anniversary of the French Revolution. Before 10th Grade The French Revolution was something I was only moderately aware of. In short, “From the beginning violence was the motor of revolution.” Rather, it's not a starter book. But having a large amount of data is a start. I am grateful to Simon Schama for writing this scholarly account of the personnel in the French Revolution. In this New York Times bestseller, award-winning author Simon Schama presents an ebullient country, vital and inventive, infatuated with novelty and technology--a strikingly fresh view of Louis XVI's France. The real achievement in this book is that the author managed to make one of the most lively and interesting periods in history not only boring, but painfully, excruciatingly boring. If we consider Citizens not so much as a book about the French Revolution but a work of the late 1980s, Schama is an almost prophetic figure. Citizens : a chronicle of the French Revolution. As far as the story goes, well, history is no science, so I guess we just read and decide for ourselves. by Random House, Inc. (NYC), Citizens: Chronicle of the French Revolution. A well written and detailed insight into the French Revolution - the pivotal series of events which a lot of myth has been overlayed. The French Revolution by no means invented liberty-hat symbolism. Citizens: A Chronicle of the French Revolution Simon Schama Instead of the dying Old Regime, Schama presents an ebullient country, vital and inventive, infatuated with novelty and technology--a strikingly fresh view of Louis XVI's France. Citizens A Chronicle Of The French Revolution [Book] Citizens A Chronicle Of The French Revolution Getting the books Citizens A Chronicle Of The French Revolution now is not type of challenging means. It unfortunately, but because of its size, understandably ends far too soon for a complete grasp of the whole era and its aftermath. Welcome back. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. Schama likes to move from anecdote to broad history and at its best the anecdotes act as concise representations of the overall story – although at times they can become mannerisms, a strategy to give the long narrative a bit of colour. Review: Citizens: A Chronicle of the French Revolution User Review - Tim - Goodreads. But I doubt it. Well researched and documented. CDN$ 67.94: CDN$ 16.64: Paperback "Please retry" CDN$ 34.00 . Although the Ancien Régime is not identified with the Rational, Schama obviously believes it had a certain potential to modernize - which seems to mean following the British example and becoming a constitutional monarchy. Citizens is a very well written history of the French Revolution covering a massive amount of events, details and personalities with a good deal of background to boot. Schama does well to provide a lot of socio-economic context to the causes of the revolution and the political motivations. One of the great landmarks of modern history publishing, Simon Schama's Citizens- A Chronicle of the French Revolutionis the most authoritative social, cultural and narrative history of the French Revolution ever produced. The son of a textile merchant with Lithuanian and Turkish grandparents, he spent his early years in Leigh-on-Sea in Essex. I bought this book when it came out in 1988 for the 200th anniversary of the French Revolution. Citizens : a chronicle of the French Revolution. March 17th 1990 Shama traces the journey of a large dramatis personae, composed of figures both well-known and obscure, from the academic salons of the Ancien Regime, through the heady days of 1789 and down to the frenzied brutality of the Jacobin Terror. Get this from a library! Sign in to Purchase Instantly. Like most subject matter experts, Schama has developed strong opinions on the subject. Nor does he pay sufficient attention to what the events of the revol. I want to read it. It sad to think that I may never get to read some of the books I've bought this year. Can anyone recommend books that cover the Thermidorian Reaction up to the rise of Napoleon? Shama traces the journey of a large dramatis personae, composed of figures both well-known and obscure, from the academic salons of the Ancien Regime, through the heady days of 1789 and down to the frenzied brutality of the Jacobin Terror. A detailed book on the French Revolution. So what is Schama doing differently? However virtuous were the principles of the revolutionaries, he reminds us that their power depended on intimidation: the spectacle of death. Members save with free shipping everyday! That does not mean his characters live without social background, a lot of the finest writing in Citizens is about the cultural background: Schama is very strong, for instance, discussing the influence of a classical education and a Romantic view of the Roman Republic in creating ideals of sacrifice for the nation, etc; he is also strong discussing the influence of Jean-Jacques Rousseau, one of the villains of the story. 948 pp. A masterpiece of narrative history. Emphasis is placed on 'feeling' the Revolution rather than examining it purely objectively. Citizens : a chronicle of the French Revolution Item Preview remove-circle Share or Embed This Item. It is an unapologetic narrative history and it organizes its complex story with a skill that should, It might be the case that any work of history with literary merit tells us as much about the time of the author as the time of the subject. You should probably know a little bit about what's going on before you crack the covers. I am ashamed to say I had to use Wikipedia to. Had I not found it in the Oxfam bookshop (hardback £2.99), I might never have got round to plugging this enormous great gap in my knowledge of essential history. ), A Tale Of Two Cities has always struck me as a somewhat flawed novel, not because of any lack of scholarly insight on Dickens' part, but because for me his repertory is inappropriately employed here (Hard Times suffers a similar miscasting). 'Monumental...provocative and stylish, Simon Schama's account of the first few years of the great Revolution in France, and of the decades that led up to it, is thoughtful, informed and profoundly revisionist' Eugen Weber, The New York Times Book Review. 4 Twelve Who Ruled by RR Palmer. This book will not help clear that up. Does he have his biases? You should probably know a little bit about what's going on before you crack the covers. Just a moment while we sign you in to your Goodreads account. I found it difficult to read, consulting dictionaries, and translating French words and phrases being only part of it. I want to read it. I know that sounds weird because 18th century France has nothing to do with the foundation of Israel, but Schama is one of those guys who thinks the Palestinians are dirty animals (I'm paraphrasing) and he takes every opportunity to compare revolutionary stuff to the Holocaust. Schama does well to provide a lot of socio-economic context to the causes of the revolution and the political motivations. Illustrated. You know, it's that "history" thing. I guess I knew it was violent and it was a big deal but it was French and I was American and really who needs that when you have this? A NY Times cloth bestseller. Outstanding piece of narrative history that overturns many long held views on the origins and progress of the revolution. I read this years ago but have been thinking about it a lot lately. About Citizens. He goes over all events pre the Ter, The Coming of the French Revolution by lefebvre. What does CITIZENS: A CHRONICLE OF THE FRENCH REVOLUTION mean? This book will not help clear that up. Still, it is quite fun to read and the points he makes are worthy of pursuit. At school I studied Europe from the Treaty of Utrecht to 1789, and Britain from 1815 to to the outbreak of The Great War, neatly incising the Revolution itself from cause and result (I take Napoleon, whom Simon barely mentions, to be just as much a product of the Ancien Regime as Marat, Danton and Robespierre). Nor does he pay sufficient attention to what the events of the revolution, exemplified by, say, "The Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen" meant to the world. It has patiently sat on my shelves all these years and it was worth the wait. He champions a governance without politics, where a rational elite will administer from their position of comfortable knowledge. It is an unapologetic narrative history and it organizes its complex story with a skill that should It might be the case that any work of history with literary merit tells us as … Get this from a library! The French Revolution is one of the most important – perhaps still the historical event of all time. It was Plumb’s influence which instilled in him the importance of narrative and written style in order to gain an audience for history outside academia. This is not necessarily bad. So I searched on Amazon for the biggest, cheapest book that I could find, to give me an overview. Sadly as a fan of Thomas Paine and enlightenment thinking, the revolution collapsed in on itself with the tremendous suffering of innocent people which Schama describes well - but does take care to confirm the horror was not evenly spread. This is an excellent, enjoyable narrative about the period surrounding and including the French revolution, but it is not a great history. In my Albionic ignorance there were many aspects I was not aware of (Louis XVI was only marginally condemned to execution, the Bastille only contained a handful of non-political prisoners, it was not a peasant v aristocracy revolution). The most authoritative social, cultural and narrative history of the French Revolution, and one of the great landmarks of modern history publishing. 200 illustrations. The son of a textile merchant with Lithuanian and Turkish grandparents, he spent his early years in Leigh-on-Sea in Essex. Why? His view is that violence was the heart and soul of the revolution, and indeed, the dilemma of those who were trying to run the country was always the question: should they appeal to the masses (incite violent insurrection) or should they strengthen the authority of the few (authority that could only be applied through military style or 'Terreur' violence)? Citizens A Chronicle Of The French Revolution Kindle File Format Citizens A Chronicle Of The French Revolution Right here, we have countless ebook Citizens A Chronicle Of The French Revolution and collections to check out. As far as fiction goes (and history is at least 50% fiction, isn’t it? THE MAN WHO LOVED RATS - Bastille, July 1789 - Expectations - Citizens: A Chronicle of the French Revolution - by Simon Schama The most authoritative social, cultural and narrative history of the French Revolution, and one of the great landmarks of modern history publishing. He argues that the "terror" wasn't an anomaly--violence fueled the Revolution from the outset. Forced to choose between the two he opted to read history at Christ’s College, Cambridge. New York: Alfred A. Knopf. I read "An Embarrassment of Riches" about 30 years ago, and still remember it as one of the best history books I've ever read. The result is a far less glamourous and heroic epoch. Schama's thesis is that brutal violence was not just an unfortunate aspect of the Revolution but ... Read full review. The Revolution messed this up. Most books on the French revolution seem to end with the fall of Robespierre. This approach underlines Schama's. Now, the French Revolution is complicated. Oddly there are not many books on the French revolution that stand out as an overall introduction, although it has. Schama is quite a writer, and the French Revolution gives him a lot of good material to work with. You might also enjoy a Podcast by Mike Duncan called Revolutions. About Citizens. But he has a sympathy for Talleyrand or Louis XVI that he does not allow Danton or Robespierre: the latter two are little more than monsters. Simon Schama, professor of history at Harvard University, discussed his recent work, [Citizens: A Chronicle of the French Revolution]. News, author interviews, critics' picks and more. When his parents moved to London he won a scholarship to Haberdashers’ Aske’s School where his two great loves were English and History. See details. This is why I despair, the stories he tells are entertaining but how do they fit into a big picture, is there a big picture, why is Schama writing about Talleyrand and not somebody else, is there a creative intelligence somewhere in the universe making a conscious decision to include or exclude certain details, and what are the criteria that determine the choice? Here he was taught by Sir John Plumb whose other students: Linda Colley, Roy Porter and John Brewer are now central to British historical thought. Which is an unsettling bias, because, while the French revolution and Reign of Terror were undoub. Equated with irrationality is the cult of sensibility, the thought of Jean-Jacques Rousseau, the Romantic and an Idealist belief in the Absolute and the Ideal. With the caveat that Schama sometimes addresses adult themes (like, in this book, the sexual slanders made against Marie-Antoinette), I give his work an enthusiastic recommendation. This is the best history of the French Revolution I have ever read, even if it betrays a very disturbing pro-Israeli slant. (In his dislike of French Idealist philosophy and his championing of empiricism, Schama is also having a swipe at the fashionable French intellectual traditions of structuralism and post-structuralism.). Citizens : a chronicle of the French Revolution. Schama takes 700 odd pages to cover the period from 1778 to the death of Robespierre in 1794, something that other no less respectable historians manage to do in a fraction of the space. This is not, primarily, the conflict between the Ancien Régime and the Revolution or between monarchists and revolutionaries, but between Rationality and Irrationality. However, his approach is contentious and invites criticism of subjectivity and populism from academic circles. He takes other historians to task for either glossing over this aspect or dismissing it as a kind of necessary concomitant evil to the seismic shifts of change. What gives Schama’s narrative ‘literary’ value is not that he has a nice turn of phrase, but that Citizens is built on a symbolic system, a conflict of two sets of values. Citizens: A Chronicle of The French Revolution, Citizens: A Chronicle of the French Revolution. Cluttered. Click to read more about Citizens: A Chronicle of the French Revolution by Simon Schama. You could not and no-one else going In this New York Times bestseller, award-winning author Simon Schama presents an ebullient country, vital and inventive, infatuated with novelty and technology–a strikingly fresh view of Louis XVI’s France. ( State of Indiana Libraries ) Services . Citizens NPR coverage of Citizens: A Chronicle of the French Revolution by Simon Schama. Stanford Libraries' official online search tool for books, media, journals, databases, government documents and more. Citizens-A-Chronicle-Of-The-French-Revolution 1/3 PDF Drive - Search and download PDF files for free. Refresh and try again. I am grateful to Simon Schama for writing this scholarly account of the personnel in the French Revolution. Against the fashions of recent decades, Schama tells his history in terms of political figures and their actions. See my review in my Senes-of-History account: This book is so undisciplined and dissatisfying. Citizens-A-Chronicle-Of-The-French-Revolution 1/3 PDF Drive - Search and download PDF files for free. I may try and come back to this at some future date but I probably need to find a more straight forward history to give me better fundamental schooling on the French Revolution. But Schama also notes the Jacobins’ interference with the market, their increasing concern with inequalities and their attempts to create a more egalitarian economy through things such as price fixing – Schama views such things as irrational (or, at least, outrageous), but it is only so by Schama’s schema. CITIZENS A Chronicle of the French Revolution. We’d love your help. Start by marking “Citizens: A Chronicle of the French Revolution” as Want to Read: Error rating book. Citizens NPR coverage of Citizens: A Chronicle of the French Revolution by Simon Schama. In "Citizens", he isn't shy about asserting his own interpretation of the events before and during the Revolution. Instead of a dying Old Regime, Schama presents an ebullient country, vital & inventive, infatuated with novelty & technology. This was an impressive read. Schama does make his points, two of them being (1) that things weren't so bad and were getting better in 1789 and (2) the revolution was a bloody and unnecessary affair. I am ashamed to say I had to use Wikipedia to get the chronology straight. Schama does make his points, two of them being (1) that things weren't so bad and were getting better in 1789 and (2) the revolution was a bloody and unnecessary affair. I do quite like some of the goofier concepts that arose out of this period such as the French republican calendar and pompous public celebrations to egalité. And Simon Schama’s history of the French Revolution, Citizens, has literary merit. Schama is no reactionary and this book is an important corrective to a lot of previously unquestioned assumptions. [Simon Schama; David Case; Blackstone Audio, Inc.] -- From one of the truly preeminent historians of our time, this is a landmark book chronicling the French Revolution. Navigate; Linked Data; Dashboard; Tools / Extras Suffice it to say it was a mass slaughter, with a grim lithurgy and that led to more tragical consequences. "The terror," declared Schama in the book, "was 1789 with a higher body count. Which is not to say that this is a bad book. Paperback (Reprint) $ 35.00. Citizens: A Chronicle of the French Revolution in History books Citizens: A Chronicle of the French Revolution It is raw food that helps us to detoxify the body, by flushing out these poisons and setting us back on a course toward a promotion of greater energy, clearer skin, shinier hair, and a Very exhaustive treatment of the French Revolution. He also gives us plenty of anecdote and biographical background to the personalities involved, and does not ignore the provinces, a timely reminder that France is more than Paris alone, and that some of the resistance to the Revolution had more to do with resentment at centralization as opposed to federalism rather than any nostalgia for royalty. Schama, Simon, Citizens: A Chronicle of the French Revolution Alfred A Knopf, New York, 1989 THE FOURTEENTH OF JULY, 1789 Bernard-Rene de Launay had been born in the Bastille, where his father had been governor, and he would die on the evening of the fourteenth of July in the shadow of its towers. Was Schama planning a sequel to this book? Thanks for this. He lives outside New York City with his wife and children. Poor Louis XVI. He is also the writer-presenter of historical and art-historical documentaries for BBC Television. You might also enjoy a Podcast by Mike Duncan called Revolutions. $29.95. I guess I knew it was violent and it was a big deal but it was French and I was American and really who needs that when you have this? Citizens is a truly wonderful example of narrative historical writing - a "tremendous performance", to borrow a favourite expression of Simon Schama. [ somebody else has to write that book, and maybe they have, it would be very relevant to contemporary politics in many countries, [ this might be a sensible argument, if the writer was Swiss or Turkish or American, but the man born in Essex ought to know better, [ and being conveniently dead is no excuse, [ without the mediation of Lesbian shepherdesses, [ in fact since there are no footnotes one can not trace back or check over anything he says, which is unsettling, [- sorry Frenchies but the Anglo-Saxons managed it better, [ apart from a conservative view point which sees it as the point at which everything went wrong and the best thing that can be done is to pretend it is possible to turn the clock back, resurrect Pope Innocent III and make a papal theocracy an actual functioning authority, [ her book is shorter though and more fun although she doesn't have as much, [ the material on Talleyrand also gets my goat, ok Talleyrand is this atheist/irreligious bishop with this quiet decent bourgeois home life with his mistress and their child and he turns out to one of History's great survivors but he is not very relevant to much of what happens in France as he gets marooned in England in unofficial exile, but Schama never bothers to tell us why there is such a focus on him - did he leave great memoirs? Instead of the dying Old Regime, Schama presents an ebullient country, vital and inventive, infatuated with novelty and technology--a strikingly fresh view of Louis XVI's France. From the New York Times review: "Mr. Schama is at his most powerful when denouncing the central truth of the Revolution: its dependence on organized (and disorganized) killing to attain. In particular it shows how widespread change was already underway whilst the monarchy was still in charge and strips away a lot of the Marxist ideology that had informed so much of the historiography. It might be the case that any work of history with literary merit tells us as much about the time of the author as the time of the subject. Citizens: A Chronicle of the French Revolution by Schama CBE, Simon and a great selection of related books, art and collectibles available now at AbeBooks.com. Meaning of CITIZENS: A CHRONICLE OF THE FRENCH REVOLUTION. This is an excellent, enjoyable narrative about the period surrounding and including the French revolution, but it is not a great history. 5 The New Regime by Isser Woloch. Those who like to do their poring lying down will scarcely rush to take up this book. It makes the start of World War I seem simple and inevitable. ... Citizens : a chronicle of the French Revolution by Schama, Simon. He is the prize-winning author of numerous books, including Dead Certainties (Unwarranted Speculations), Landscape and Memory, Rembrandt's Eyes and three volumes of A History of Britain. This sort of sensationalism The presentation of stories in a way that is intended to provoke public interest or excitement, at the expense of accuracy. Simply calling the book 'a chronicle' doesn't escape this issue because there is always a degree of selection, [ but since this is a paraphrase of de Tocqueville with some other stuff, rewriting somebody else's book isn't such a radical departure, [ not necessarily by Monday afternoon though, and it would make better sense of the title. Compared to Lefebvre's treatment, his is weak. Forced to choose between the two he opted to read history at Christ’s College, Cambridge. The to. Starting with Part II there is a sequence and key aspects of the Revolution are well described, such as the seizure of the Bastille. Simon Schama deftly refutes the contemporary notion that the French Revolution represented an uprising of the oppressed poor against a decadent aristocracy and corrupt court. Citizens: A Chronicle of the French Revolution And given that we spent... maybe two weeks on the French Revolution in 10th Grade and that I've been thinking about it so much for the past so long I wanted to read more about it. I'll be looking for some explanation for all the civilized bloodletting. My reading of "Citizens" was that Schama's work is very much a Francis Fukuyama-style Reagan-era, Thatcher-era take on the French Revolution and there should be more critical response to this. Emphasis is placed on 'feeling' the Revolution rather than examining it purely objectively. While at Oxford he wrote, “Asked what he thought was the significance of the French Revolution, the Chinese Premier Zhou En-lai is reported to have answered, “It’s too soon to tell.”, “a young student had written to his father, justifying his decision to volunteer by declaring that “our liberty can only be assured if it will have for its bed a mattress of cadavers… I consent to become one of those cadavers.”, http://www.columbia.edu/cu/history/fac-bios/Schama/faculty.html. Schama surely succeeded in telling a detailed and suspenseful story of the French Revolution. A well written and detailed insight into the French Revolution - the pivotal series of events which a lot of myth has been overlayed. 3 Citizens: A Chronicle of the French Revolution by Simon Schama. Schama's narrative account of the French Revolution allows events and people to guide the reader chronologically through the complicated maze of these turbulent years. Obviously a liberal, he probably had little sympathy with many of the social policies of Ronald Reagan or Margaret Thatcher, the dominating political figures in the U.S. and U.K. of the time, but he does accept their call for the dominance of the market economy and dresses this up in terms of rationality. Goodreads helps you keep track of books you want to read. Now, the French Revolution is complicated. As such, it is a chronicle that leans more towards story-telling as opposed to rational analysis. Which is not to say that this is a bad book. So what is Schama doing differently? Ship This Item — Qualifies for Free Shipping Buy Online, Pick up in Store Check Availability at Nearby Stores . I read this years ago but have been thinking about it a lot lately. And when I studied it in 10th Grade history class I found it interesting, not realizing it was a seed that would grow and grow and grow until now when it is, really, one of the pieces of history that I find impossibly captivating. I read "An Embarrassment of Riches" about 30 years ago, and still remember it as one of the best history books I've ever rea. When his parents moved to London he won a scholarship to Haberdashers’ Aske’s School where his two great loves were English and History. He just wanted to make maps and hang out with sailors. Equated with rationality is the Enlightenment, the pragmatic, the utilitarian, modernity, the physiocrats and the new economic thought of Adam Smith leading to a belief in dominance of the economic market. If we now read Edward Gibbon it is probably to gain an insight into the mind of an eighteenth century English intellectual rather than insights into the declining Roman Empire. He goes over all events pre the Terror. A fine review. This is the best history of the French Revolution I have ever read, even if it betrays a very disturbing pro-Israeli slant. Readers' Most Anticipated Books of December. A masterpiece of narrative history. By Simon Schama. Please add cover & narrator for Citizens audiobook. Do you have any suggestions? The topsy-turvy bloodlust of the Terror is well recorded, but it struck me that this could be seen as a semi-Civil war between the Federalist provinces and the Centralising Parisians. Let us know what’s wrong with this preview of, Published A New York Times bestseller in hardcover. It is monumental. News, author interviews, critics' picks and more. LibraryThing Review User Review - Westwest - LibraryThing. You could not without help going It was what made the Revolution revolutionary." Considers the fullest resources of social, cultural, and political history and includes accounts of private and public lives to help see the reality of the revolution Yes. In the mixture of market economics and liberal social policies Schama looks forward to President Clinton and Obama in the U.S. and the New Labour project in the U.K. Publication date 1989 Topics Franse Revolutie Publisher New York : Knopf : Distributed by Random House Collection One of the evils of the Revolution is that it politicized society, politics dominated culture and the economy. Schama (History/Harvard), author of Patriots and Liberators: Revolution in the Netherlands 1780-1813 and The Embarrassment of Riches: An Interpretation of Dutch Culture in the Golden Age, offers an epic new history of the French Revolution in honor of this year's bicentenary. For one thing he scrupulously avoids any kind of schematization, any form of large structural overview, instead concentrating on what indeed he declares it to be in the title, a chronicle, a careful catalogue of events, without giving them ideological interpretation. And Simon Schama’s history of the French Revolution, Citizens, has literary merit. Is it melodramatic at times? It's quite complex and Schama doesn't really ground things with solid timelines and exposition imo. What he also manages to do, in contrast, he claims, to many of his learned colleagues, is to take a long, hard, impassive and yet critical look at the horrific violence. So I searched on Amazon for the biggest, cheapest book that I could find, to give me an overview. From the New York Times review: "Mr. Schama is at his most powerful when denouncing the central truth of the Revolution: its dependence on organized (and disorganized) killing to attain political ends. Rather, it's not a starter book. It makes the start of World War I seem simple and inevitable. Citizens A Chronicle Of The French Revolution [Books] Citizens A Chronicle Of The French Revolution Getting the books Citizens A Chronicle Of The French Revolution now is not type of challenging means. It has patiently sat on my shelves all these years and it was worth the wait. But Schama’s scheme does not explain the Revolution, rather it gives us a set of values to judge the Revolution: rationality is good, irrationality is bad. Schama's thesis is that brutal violence was not just an unfortunate aspect of the Revolution but ... Consulter l'avis complet, I bought this book when it came out in 1988 for the 200th anniversary of the French Revolution. He does not, however, prove much of everything by what amounts to a rather unsystematic collection of facts and anecdotes. this from a library citizens a chronicle of the french revolution simon schama john livesey at the heart of this account of the french revolution is the Oct 16 2020 Citizens-A-Chronicle-Of-The-French-Revolution 2/3 PDF Drive - Search and download PDF files for free. Its incredible, Citizens: A Chronicle of the French Revolution, I wanted to read about the French Revolution. (I’m also unaware of any European absolutist monarchy that peacefully transformed into a new political form, rather they were violently overthrown by war or revolution: I don’t know how France might have achieved a peaceful and ‘rational’ transformation.) The author prefers a more old-fashioned interpretation of the French revolution, which presents the revolution as a drama and focuses on the characters that determine the unravelling of the plot. Schama's thesis is that brutal violence was not just an unfortunate aspect of the Revolution but lay at its very heart. I hope the folks at the protests with the "liberty, equality, fraternity" signs understand that what they're saying isn't just a cool slogan. Definitely a good review. He tells us he did not introduce the work by a chapter on, for instance, the economic background leading to the Revolution because that would privilege the economic, but his method privileges narrative and characters within that narrative: this is, unapologetically, a story of famous people doing famous things. Reading "Citizens" made it obvious to me that the author is a subject matter expert on the French Revolution. It's been dwelling on my shelves for years, next to, Definitely a good review. And the Revolutionary regime of the Terror was probably the first totalitarian state and Schama is on strong ground pointing to its all or nothing ethos: people were either for it or against it, for or against the patrie, and those who were against had to be eliminated. I wanted to read about the French Revolution. Primarily Schama does not think the Revolution was caused by social structures, by economics or class conflicts, but by social issues and the response by people to these issues. Get this from a library! The Revolution was a conspiracy of irrationality. [Simon Schama] -- A best-selling history of the French Revolution in which author Dutch historian Schama concentrates on the human aspects of this frightful and monstrous blood-bath. The French Revolution was a watershed event in human history which lasted for around a decade from 5th May 1789 to 9th November 1799.Caused primarily due to a financial crisis, it began with the Storming of the Bastille and ended with the Coup of 18th Brumaire. ), The Terror. The first portion of the book lacks chronology – there is a constant shifting to and fro between 1770 and 1789 and events become confusing. A chore to read. And Simon Schama’s history of the French Revolution, Citizens, has literary merit. A fresh view of Louis XVI's France. It is an unapologetic narrative history and it organizes its complex story with a skill that should be envied by many novelists. The Scarlet Pimpernel I’ve always taken to be at least 50% claptrap, though not on any authority. One of the great landmarks of modern history publishing, Simon Schama's Citizens- A Chronicle of the French Revolutionis the most authoritative social, cultural and narrative history of the French Revolution ever produced. It's a good corrective to the received wisdom that the French Revolution was a smashing success and one that should be used as a model for the present. LibraryThing is a cataloging and social networking site for booklovers All about Citizens: A Chronicle of the French Revolution by Simon Schama. As such, it is a chronicle that leans more towards story-telling as opposed to rational analysis. Reading this book made me want to read more history -- or, at least, more history written by Mr. Schama. Citizens: A Chronicle of the French Revolution [Schama, Simon] on Amazon.com. Oh yes. I've always adored Simon Schama's storytelling. In this New York Times bestseller, award-winning author Simon Schama presents an ebullient country, vital and inventive, infatuated with novelty and technology–a strikingly fresh view of Louis XVI’s France. This approach underlines Schama's main point: the French Revolution was directed by passion rather than reason. Wow! 200 illustrations. This can lead him to act as an apologist for the militia who open fire on crowds when they are "goaded beyond endurance." Here he was taught, Simon Schama was born in 1945. Oddly there are not many books on the French revolution that stand out as an overall introduction, although it has been written about endlessly. Schama is quite a writer, and the French Revolution gives him a lot of good material to work with. Definition of CITIZENS: A CHRONICLE OF THE FRENCH REVOLUTION in the Definitions.net dictionary. Do I love it anyway? His hero in all this is Malesherbes, a pragmatic rationalist who was pushed aside by the Revolution. Amazon Price New from Used from Hardcover "Please retry" CDN$ 67.94 . Many important events took place during its course including the abolition of the monarchy and establishment of a republic in France. He also. Coatesville-Clay Township Public Library. Probably a better read for those who already have some knowledge on the subject. Schama remained at Christ’s for 10 years after his degree, becoming a fellow and then director of Studies, before moving to Brasenose College Oxford. Simon Schama - Citizens - A Chronicle of the French Revolution. It sad to think that I may never get to read some of the books I've bought this year. Simon Schama is University Professor in Art History and History at Columbia University in New York, and one of the best-known scholars in Britain in any field. And when I studied it in 10th Grade history class I found it interesting, not realizing it was a seed that would grow and grow and grow until now when it is, really, one of the pieces of history that I find impossibly captivating. Schama is quite a writer, and the French Revolution gives him a lot of good material to work with. And given that we spent... maybe two weeks on th. He does not, however, prove much of everything by what amounts to a rather unsystematic collection of facts and anecdotes. Citizens: A Chronicle of the French Revolution 976. by Simon Schama, LuAnn Walther (Editor) | Editorial Reviews. Citizens: A Chronicle of the French Revolution Audible Audiobook – Unabridged Simon Schama (Author), Frederick Davidson (Narrator), Blackstone Audio, Inc. (Publisher) & 0 more 4.3 out of 5 stars 285 ratings Major theses: violence was inherent to the revolution, even the engine of it; it was not a revolution of the third estate, but of the illuminated part of the nobility (this is a sometimes rather forced these); the King and Queen played a pernicious role, but were wronged; Rousseau has laid the foundations for the derailment of the revolution. Wow! Before 10th Grade The French Revolution was something I was only moderately aware of. I've had this for a while and have been avoiding it. One of the hallmarks of Schama’s work is his flair for description: ‘he gets arcane matters to walk, in fact dance, off the page’ according to fellow historian Peter Hennessy. Citizens: A Chronicle of the French Revolution is a book by the historian Simon Schama, published in 1989, the bicentenary of the French Revolution. 35.0 In Stock Overview. It was an affaire-de-coeur which superseded an affaire-de-tete. I just got lost in the maddening warrens of information/various characters. Citizens-A-Chronicle-Of-The-French-Revolution 1/3 PDF Drive - Search and download PDF files for free. See all formats and editions Hide other formats and editions. Drawn from Roman coins on which freed slaves were shown receiving the “Phrygian bonnet” at the moment of their emancipation, it had a history in graphic art, medals and inscriptions going back at … A broad and detailed history of the revolution. In my Albionic ignorance there were many aspects I was not aware of (Louis XVI was only marginally condemned to execution, the Bastille only contained a handful of non-political prisoners, it was not a peasant v aristocracy revolution). Schama is quite a writer, and the French Revolution gives him a lot of good material to work with. The strengths of Citizens is non stop chronicle of the actions and interactions of the key members of the revolution's story, from Louis the XVI's incompetence to Robspierre's chilling demeaner. He argues that the "terror" wasn't an anomaly--violence fueled the Revolution from the outset. If we now read Edward Gibbon it is probably to gain an insight into the mind of an eighteenth century English intellectual rather than insights into the declining Roman Empire. At school I studied Europe from the Treaty of Utrecht to 1789, and Britain from 1815 to to the outbreak of The Great War, neatly incising the Revolution itself from cause and result (I take Napoleon, whom Simon barely mentions, to. What I really lacked was an objective walkthrough of the facts; Simon Schama's take is not very detached – but his distinctive right wing (Thatcherite, Reaganomic) viewpoint only partially detracts from this account, while colouring it with the enthusiasm of a credible historian. I know that sounds weird because 18th century France has nothing to do with the foundation of Israel, but Schama is one of those guys who thinks the Palestinians are dirty animals (I'm paraphrasing) and he takes every opportunity to compare revolutionary stuff to the Holocaust. Information and translations of CITIZENS: A CHRONICLE OF THE FRENCH REVOLUTION in the most comprehensive dictionary definitions resource … It's a good corrective to the received wisdom that the French Revolution was a smashing success and one that should be used as a model for the present. Recumbent readers beware. I am no expert on the subject but I have read a few books on the French Revolution including "The Oxford history of the French Revolution" and "Twelve who Ruled". The standard narrative of the French Revolution is of the oppressed proletariat heroically rising up to throw off the intolerable burden of a cruel and indifferent monarchy. Citizens: A Chronicle of the French Revolution Paperback – March 27 1990 by Simon Schama (Author) 4.1 out of 5 stars 155 ratings.

citizens: a chronicle of the french revolution summary

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