The revolutionary movement which began in 1787 disrupted every aspect of French society, rising to a pitch of such extreme violence that the effects are still felt in France today. The Revolution was the product of social tensions that developed throughout France in the second half of the eighteenth century. Norman Hampson analyses the nature of these social conflicts within their political framework. With enough background information to satisfy the general reader with no previous knowledge of the subject, Norman Hampson's book devotes particular attention to provincial France. The result is both a picture of the supreme crisis in French society, and an examination of social attitudes and aspirations whose influence has been universal and enduring. Contents Preface I France on the Eve of the Revolution II The Victory of the Aristocracy III The Victory of the 3rd Estate IV The Failure to Compromise V The Re-shaping of France, 1789-91 VI The Turning-point VII The Division of the Republicans VIII The Precarious Victory of the Sans-culottes IX The Failure of Both Principle & Expediency X The Aftermath Bibliography Index
Norman Hampson was the Professor of History at the University of York from 1974 to 1989 and fellow of the British Academy in 1980. He specialised in the French Revolution and European Enlightenment. During the Second World War Hampson's service in the Royal Navy included two years as liaison officer with the Free French Navy.
During high school very few friends had access to automobiles. Walter Wallace, a year ahead of me, was an exception. One of two sons of a single mother, his was one of the poorer families in Park Ridge, but the exigencies of work required them to maintain a car. Walter, being the elder son, was the designated driver. Indeed, I never saw his mother run the thing--perhaps she'd never learned. In any case, he used it to drive her and himself back and forth from work, from shopping and errands. In what time remained the machine was his and he was generous with his friends.
Many of my most important experiences in adolescence were in part owing to Walter's Volvo. Walter was, even as an adolescent, a leftist intellectual, inclined to the study of history. His idea of a good time included such things as going to bookstores, to libraries, to university campuses and academic lectures. I, sharing similar interests, was more than happy to accompany him, serving as navigator and cigarette lighter on the longer trips. This particular book, my first serious study of the French revolution outside the classroom, was obtained on one such adventure to the Hyde Park neighborhood in Chicago.