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Citizens

A Chronicle of the French Revolution

By Schama, Schama Simon, Simon Singh

(6)

| Paperback | 9780679726104

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Book Description

Instead of the dying Old Regime, Schama presents an ebullient country, vital and inventive, infatuated with novelty and technology--a strikingly fresh view of Louis XVI's France. A New York Times bestseller in hardcover. 200 illustrations.

2 Reviews

1 person find this helpful

This Is How History Should Be Written!

I became obsessed in the last year with the French Revolution because I desperately wanted to answer two questions that had been plaguing me from all my other reading: 1)If the French Revolution had been so heavily influenced by the American Revolution, how did the American Revolution go so right, b ... (continue)

I became obsessed in the last year with the French Revolution because I desperately wanted to answer two questions that had been plaguing me from all my other reading: 1)If the French Revolution had been so heavily influenced by the American Revolution, how did the American Revolution go so right, but the French went so very, very wrong and 2) What was it about the French Revolution that went on to spawn the worst monsters of the 20th Century--Lenin, Hitler, Pol Pot, Mao (among others)?
Simon Schama densely packs this book with exquisit detail from every possible aspect of French society in the late 1700s so an amazingly complete picture emerges about the French Revolution. Art, literature, philosphy, science, industry, politics, theatre, music, food . . . right down to fashion and hair styles are blended with major characters' thoughts, motivations and actions.

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SWReader said on May 29, 2010 about the Hardcover edition | Add your feedback

Excellent anecdotal guide to the French Revolution. Though it's a hefty book, it never drags. Schama's strength is in his compulsive readability. This is a great resource for anyone without a background in this contentious, still controversial period of history.

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guaddess said on Oct 21, 2007 | Add your feedback