![]() ![]() ![]() In the end, Schama appears to have a closer affinity with Tocqueville than has been seen in a century. Thematically, his most important contribution is in revealing French culture and society in the reign of Louis XVI to have been "troubled more by its addiction to change than resistance to it." Similarly, he contends that "much of the anger that fired revolutionary violence arose from the hostility towards modernization, rather than impatience with the speed of its progress." Thus, the "new class" that arose against the monarchy turns out to have been not new at all-but rather doctors, lawyers, noblemen, priests, and other professionals. ![]() Utilizing day-to-day accounts of people ordinary and not so ordinary, presenting them in the highly accessible manner of traditional narrative, Schama synthesizes many theories that have populated the historical writings about this era. 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. ![]()
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May 2023
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