Contesting the French Revolution

Few events in history have generated as much scholarly work as theFrench Revolution, and lively and often emotional debates about isorigins and meaning continue to this day.

Contesting the French Revolution presents an overview ofwhat led up to this pivotal event, the turning points that shapedit, and its far–reaching effects, as well as examining the mostsignificant historiographical debates about this period. Were theevents of 1789 a social revolution or a political accident? Didthey mark the rise of industrial capitalism or the birth of moderndemocracy? Was the Reign of Terror a response to foreign war anddomestic resistance or the product of Jacobin ideology? WasNapoleon Bonaparte an heir to the ideals of 1789 or a betrayer ofthe Revolution? In this impressive evaluation of LaRévolution Paul Hanson offers an engaging analysis ofthese debates, showing us how historical interpretation of theFrench Revolution has been influenced by the changing political andsocial currents of the last 200 years from the RussianRevolution to the fall of the Berlin Wall.

Acknowledgements.

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.

Paul Hanson is Professor of History at Butler University inIndianapolis. He has taught courses on French history, Europeanhistory, and Chinese history, and has published numerous books andarticles examining the French Revolution, including The JacobinRepublic under Fire, Provincial Politics in the FrenchRevolution and Historical Dictionary of the FrenchRevolution.

The historiography of the French Revolution is notoriouslyvoluminous. Paul Hanson is one of very few people who can be saidto have mastered it. ( Informaworld.com, January 2011)

"This book is no neutral survey of historiography, bur anengaged contribution to the debate. Hanson challenges olderrevisionism by endorsing recent studies that emphasize socialconflict as key to the French Revolution, and he contestsinterpretations of the Terror or of revolutionary violence as theoutcomes of revolutionary ideology." (Journal of WorldHistory, September 2010)

"Recommended [for] Graduate students [and] faculty."(CHOICE, February 2010) Designed as an introduction both tothe Revolution and to the historical controversies that surroundit, Contesting the French Revolution is an assured, eruditesurvey of recent scholarship by an accomplished historian of theRevolution. (H–France, April 2010)