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Title: The Old Regime and the French Revolution by Alexis de Tocqueville, A. P. Kerr ISBN: 0-385-09260-1 Publisher: Doubleday Books Pub. Date: 01 June, 1955 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $12.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.83 (6 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: Radical but effective change of perspective...
Comment: Alexis de Tocqueville (1805-1859) wrote many books, but his best-known one is probably "Democracy in America". Despite that, reading "The Old Regime and the Revolution" (1856) is essential in order to understand how much Tocqueville contributed to an accurate analysis of the present and past of his society, and to Political Science.
Why is "The Old Regime and the Revolution" a classic?. Why do teachers keep recommending it to their students?. In my opinion, the answer to both those questions is that this book is an example of the kind of work a political scientist is capable of producing, if inclined to do so. Here, Tocqueville doesn't pay attention to the conventionally accepted truth, but looks beyond it, in order to form his own opinion. And when the result of that process is shocking, he doesn't back down bounded by conventions: he simply states his conclusions.
In "The Old Regime and the Revolution" Alexis de Tocqueville does what at his time was considered more or less unthinkable: to put into question the revolutionary character of...the French Revolution. He said that the only way to understand what happened in 1789 was to study the previous social processes, and to find what they have in common with what came about later. This change of perspective was radical, but effective. It didn't presuppose anything, and so it helped the author to arrive to a seemingly strange conclusion: that the French Revolution had not only continued with the social processes that were taking place in France, but accentuated them. For example, the governmental centralization was much worse after 1789. In a way, then, the French Revolution only carried forward with what the Old Regime had already started.
On the whole, I recommend this book mainly to those interested in French History and Political Science. It isn't overly easy to read, but you will realize that it is full of interesting information, and permeated by a painstakingly careful analysis regarding social processes that is remarkable. In my opinion, "The Old Regime and the Revolution" is a book that you won't regret buying :)
Belen Alcat
Rating: 5
Summary: This Time, Not a Tourist
Comment: My friend Ron used to say that he was an extreme right-wing Menshevik - that he knew the revolution was coming, he just didn't approve (does he still think so, I wonder? Must ask). "Disapproval" is probably too strong a word to use for anyone with de Tocqueville's stoicism and aristocratic detachment. But he certainly knows that the revolution is upon us. At the same time, he understands the responsibilities and opportunities of governance. The persistent question is: if we are to have democracy, how do we fashion one where good government can prosper?
De Tocqueville's "French Revolution" is more compact, less discursive then his "Democracy in America" because in France, he was not a tourist. This is both a strength and a weakness. His points are crisp, direct and forceful, and you never get over your admiration for his acuity. On the other hand, there is something to be said for the marvel of unfolding that presents itself as he travels through the young United States and tries to imagine the new world that is being born.
Rating: 4
Summary: Subtle plug for democracy in France and revolutionary myth
Comment: The French Revolution remains one of the crucial events of modern European and world history. The revolution stands as an event that hailed the fall of feudalism and marked the triumph of the common person over the aristocracy. In truth, reality is much more complex than that presented in a common textbook. The French revolution has been an object of praise as much as it has been the focus of heated debate. While the old regime may have fallen "in a night", the revolution was a product of a gradual resentment which went far beyond an outburst of revolutionary fervor. In The Old Regime and the French Revolution Alexis de Tocqueville allows us a definitive glimpse at the circumstances that lead to revolt. In Tocqueville's mind there was never an event in which "stemming from factors so far back in the past, (was) so inevitable yet (so) completely unforeseen." In this less read work, he takes on the origins of the French Revolution and the peculiar French form of democracy it brought, in stark contrast to his portrayal in Democracy in America. The Old Regime and the French Revolution is deserving of its status as a classic for the remarkable insight it provides. While Tocqueville's work is a classic, it draws upon the work and thought of other scholars and it is revisionist in the way it changes the way the French revolution is discussed. Along with more widely accepted views on the revolution, which is important in marking it a classic) Tocqueville describes history in a way that allows the reader to place the revolution in a global perspective, while dissecting it enough to understand its intricacies.
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Title: The Coming of the French Revolution by Georges Lefebvre ISBN: 0691007519 Publisher: Princeton University Press Pub. Date: 01 November, 1967 List Price(USD): $18.95 |
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Title: Democracy in America by Alexis De Tocqueville ISBN: 0451528123 Publisher: Signet Book Pub. Date: 05 September, 2001 List Price(USD): $7.95 |
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Title: The Oxford History of the French Revolution by William Doyle ISBN: 019925298X Publisher: Oxford University Press Pub. Date: 01 July, 2003 List Price(USD): $19.95 |
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Title: The Marx-Engels Reader by Karl Marx, New York :, Friedrich Selections. English. 1978 Engels, Robert C. Tucker ISBN: 039309040X Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company Pub. Date: 01 February, 1978 List Price(USD): $26.30 |
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Title: Interpreting the French Revolution by Francois Furet, Elborg Forster ISBN: 0521280494 Publisher: Cambridge University Press Pub. Date: 01 March, 1981 List Price(USD): $27.00 |
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