Description
Book SynopsisFew events in history have generated as much scholarly work as the French Revolution. Contesting the French Revolution presents an overview of what led to this pivotal event, the turning points that shaped it, and its far-reaching effects, as well as an examination the most significant historiographical debates about this period.
Trade Review“The historiography of the French Revolution is notoriously voluminous. Paul Hanson is one of very few people who can be said to have mastered it.” (
Informaworld.com, January 2011)
"This book is no neutral survey of historiography, bur an engaged contribution to the debate. Hanson challenges older revisionism by endorsing recent studies that emphasize social conflict as key to the French Revolution, and he contests interpretations of the Terror or of revolutionary violence as the outcomes of revolutionary ideology." (Journal of World History, September 2010)
"Recommended [for] Graduate students [and] faculty." (CHOICE, February 2010) Designed as an introduction both to the Revolution and to the historical controversies that surround it, Contesting the French Revolution is an assured, erudite survey of recent scholarship by an accomplished historian of the Revolution. (H-France, April 2010)
Table of ContentsAcknowledgements.
Chronology.
Introduction.
1. Origins: Inevitable Revolution or Resolvable Crisis?
2. 1789.
3. The Declaration of Rights and the Abolition of Feudalism.
4. Constitutional Monarchy.
5. The Republic.
6. Regeneration and Terror.
7. Thermidor and the Directory.
8. Napoleon: Heir to the Revolution?
9. Revolutionary Violence.
10. Legacy of the Revolution.
Bibliography.
Index.
