Children of the Revolution: The French, 1799-1914
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Review
'An excellent book ! his real achievement lies in digging below the surface to present a tapestry of French life ! the overall sweep and depth of the book is masterly' - Jonathan Fenby, The Times 'Magisterial ! a spectacular new study ! teeming with anecdotes, gems and intriguing details' - Siofra Pierse, Irish Times 'A fine new history ! far-ranging, original and very enjoyable' - Virginia Rounding, Daily Telegraph 'Elegantly written ! vivid and constantly enriched by a gallery of portraits ! The author's sympathetic understanding of the French shines through his prose' - Sudhir Hazareesingh, Literary Review 'Masterly' - Graham Robb, Sunday Times 'A triumph' - Richard Vinen, Independent
Product Description
Nineteenth-century France was one of the world's great cultural beacons, renowned for its dazzling literature, philosophy, art, poetry and technology. Yet this was also a tumultuous century of political anarchy and bloodshed, where each generation of the French Revolution's 'children' would experience their own wars, revolutions and terrors.
From soldiers to priests, from peasants to Communards, from feminists to literary figures such as Victor Hugo and Honoré de Balzac, Robert Gildea's brilliant new history explores every aspect of these rapidly changing times, and the people who lived through them.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
0 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
If I were offering "France: culture, politics and society 1800-1900" as my specialist subject on Mastermind, before getting into the black chair what main source would I depend on? Well you could do worse than read Robert Gildea's book but I would not make it my sole choice.
The book is in two parts, 1799 to 1870 then the Franco-Prussian war up to 1914. The chapters are pithy with a lot of detail. They read as self contained essays, or perhaps lectures. The long - apparently never ending - story of centrifugal and centripetal politics, Paris as the root of all division or the source of national unity is told. And the divided French left, an enduring legacy where the game seems more than the consequences. For me it was well written but, frustratingly, only as far as it went. Such a wide-ranging book is of necessity impressionistic. Adding little cameos, and employing literature to reinforce analysis added momentum.
The main limitation was that only political challenges and social change within France were dealt with but these were paralleled in other countries, or states forming nations. Although Professor Gildea does make some passing comparative reference, I was constantly wondering how Germany, or Britain, or Italy compared in many areas. What was specific, or special to France? Europe was changing massively, and was changing the world. France was part of this, not isolated, so comparisons beyond her borders are essential and relevant.
With this broad brush, he deals with themes, the ever-present challenge for the French - finding accommodation with themselves, how to employ the revolutionary ideals and live up to them, modernisation, industrialisation, class, religion, feminism, literature, coping with a superior culture that the world does not quite appreciate. The imposition of the French language and the invention of a French national identity, both occurring very late in the 20th century, were sketched. This is not a political or economic history, it is not a social history, it is an amalgam equating to a cultural explanation.
This is a book you can appreciate more than enjoy. It is for the curious, possibly the curious undergraduate, for those wanting orientation leading to specific political, social, diplomatic histories. It would have been helpful to have had a short bibliography. Having read Graham Robb's anthropology "The Discovery of France" and Rod Kedward's political history "La Vie En Bleu: France and the French Since 1900" Gildea's book fits well. Then there is Robert and Isabelle Tombs - "That Sweet Enemy." I would not sit in the Mastermind chair without having read all four.
The book is in two parts, 1799 to 1870 then the Franco-Prussian war up to 1914. The chapters are pithy with a lot of detail. They read as self contained essays, or perhaps lectures. The long - apparently never ending - story of centrifugal and centripetal politics, Paris as the root of all division or the source of national unity is told. And the divided French left, an enduring legacy where the game seems more than the consequences. For me it was well written but, frustratingly, only as far as it went. Such a wide-ranging book is of necessity impressionistic. Adding little cameos, and employing literature to reinforce analysis added momentum.
The main limitation was that only political challenges and social change within France were dealt with but these were paralleled in other countries, or states forming nations. Although Professor Gildea does make some passing comparative reference, I was constantly wondering how Germany, or Britain, or Italy compared in many areas. What was specific, or special to France? Europe was changing massively, and was changing the world. France was part of this, not isolated, so comparisons beyond her borders are essential and relevant.
With this broad brush, he deals with themes, the ever-present challenge for the French - finding accommodation with themselves, how to employ the revolutionary ideals and live up to them, modernisation, industrialisation, class, religion, feminism, literature, coping with a superior culture that the world does not quite appreciate. The imposition of the French language and the invention of a French national identity, both occurring very late in the 20th century, were sketched. This is not a political or economic history, it is not a social history, it is an amalgam equating to a cultural explanation.
This is a book you can appreciate more than enjoy. It is for the curious, possibly the curious undergraduate, for those wanting orientation leading to specific political, social, diplomatic histories. It would have been helpful to have had a short bibliography. Having read Graham Robb's anthropology "The Discovery of France" and Rod Kedward's political history "La Vie En Bleu: France and the French Since 1900" Gildea's book fits well. Then there is Robert and Isabelle Tombs - "That Sweet Enemy." I would not sit in the Mastermind chair without having read all four.
4 of 15 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This book is a BIG disappointment. It was like wading through treacle and in the end I gave up. Having recently read books on France I was interested in learning more about the French and their history but this was not the book for that. Nothing of the charm and witty style of The Discovery of France or The Secret Life of France. So much information blended together, so much jumping around from era to era, so many facts muddled together that it was difficult to process the read. A struggle to find what you want in the index too. I could go on. Think twice before buying this book unless you enjoy an academic challenge.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
1 review
1 of 12 people found the following review helpful
The coming together of many Frances which had so long been in conflict
29 July 2009
Format:Hardcover
"Children of the Revolution" is on the ROROTOKO list of cutting-edge intellectual nonfiction. Professor Gildea's book interview ran here as a cover feature on December 19, 2008.
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