The Peasantry in the French Revolution

ISBN-13: 9780521337168 / Angielski / Miękka / 1988 / 328 str.

Peter Jones

Opis

This book fills a gap in the literature on the French Revolution, and offers a synthesis that brings together the fruits of two generations' research in the field of French rural and agrarian history. The contention of Georges Lefebvre that the peasantry occupied center stage during the early years of the Revolution is vindicated with the support of fresh evidence culled from local and national archives, unpublished theses, and little-known printed sources.

Recenzje

'While modestly claiming that his work is not based on original research, this book renews our understanding of the subject. With an acute sense of region, a preoccupation with politics and culture, the author continues a chronological and thematic approach which is stimulating as well as informative. In a conclusion, boldly termed 'the balance sheet', he examines the complexities of this vast experience with perceptive shrewdness. This is undoubtedly the finest book to appear, so far, in English, in these busy commemorative years of the Revolution.' Douglas Johnson, The Times Educational Supplement

Spis treści

List of illustrations; List of tables; Preface; Acknowledgements; List of abbreviations; 1. Rural France in the eighteenth century; 2. The crisis of the late 'ancien régime'; 3. 1789: between hope and fear; 4. Dismantling the seigneurial regime; 5. The land settlement: collective rights versus agrarian individualism; 6. The administrative revolution; 7. Terror and counter-terror; 8. The balance-sheet; Notes; Bibliography; Index.