A New World Begins: The History of the French Revolution

Reviews

1. 

   Weid – August 13, 2024

   Well done, but flawed, interpretation
   As the title suggests, the French Revolution reverberated far outside the place and time in which it occurred. Popkin takes an overall favorable view of the FR and its impact, emphasizing the positive aspects of its legacy relevant to the political world we inhabit today. A significant miss is that Popkin doesn’t make his case for why liberal democracy and republicanism in his “new world” begins with the FR; these can more accurately be attributed to the American Revolution. The US Declaration of Independence predates France’s Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen by 13 years; the US Constitution by one year. Not just ideas: even some of the same actors who had already made history in the American Revolution return for an encore during the FR. Thomas Paine and Marquis de Lafayatte come to mind as they are featured throughout this book. In the US, these two are part of a pantheon celebrated for their contributions to the founding of the republic. Contrast that with revolutionary France, where Lafayette was forced into exile to avoid arrest and likely execution and Paine was imprisoned for a time – not by the ancien regime but by their erstwhile revolutionary allies! This anecdote hints at a larger truth of the FR: while liberal democracy and republicanism is a central inheritance from the American Revolution, the FR bequeathed radical populism and leftist fascination with political violence and revolutionary terror as a means to an end. The line from the revolutionary tribunals, Committee of Public Safety, Reign of Terror and the guillotine to the Stalinist show trials, mass executions of ‘wreckers and saboteurs’, the Gulag, and even to antifa today is much more clear and direct than Popkin seems to want to admit. Social engineering and European nationalism along with their implications (total war and genocide) is another legacy of the FR that isn’t adequately addressed here. The FR is an important event in modern history and worthy of updated interpretation, but in contrast to the stability and success of the American experiment it can be more readily understood as a warning of tragic overreach – the Enlightenment culmination in a Promethean disaster that haunts our world today.(Another interesting note: France is currently in its Fifth Republic and has vacillated between returning to monarchy, empire, and various republics with multiple constitutions at different points since the FR. The US has adapted, improved, and ultimately maintained the same Constitution for over two hundred years.)And yet Popkin is very willing to engage with counter arguments and explicitly acknowledges facts and events difficult to square with rose-colored interpretations of the FR. I give him credit for taking a balanced approach and recognizing inconvenient interpretations. Disagreements aside, my only real complaint is that he doesn’t address the pessimistic view of the FR legacy more head-on. He acknowledges the arguments at various points, but then seems to wave them aside without really making an attempt to address the central critique.Popkin starts his interpretation by briefly sketching out and comparing the lives of Louis XVI and a skilled tradesman, Jacque-Louis Menetra, who observed and took part in aspects of the FR. At various points throughout he weaves in details from Menetra’s memoirs to help provide a different perspective on the FR that we seldom see at an individual level – that of the everyday person who contributed to the overall picture. This helps make Popkin’s account especially enjoyable.Vitally, Popkin does a great job of integrating uprisings in French colonies by free and enslaved people and their move toward freedom and abolition of slavery into the story of the FR. This isn’t just ‘tacked on’ to pay tribute to the gods of political correctness within university history departments and publishing houses; it actually contributes to the overall richness and complexity of the story by describing causes and impacts of the movements on the broader picture. Many other books on the subject miss this entirely or consolidate it all into one chapter, making it feel almost like a completely separate event. In many ways this part of the story is the truly “new world” aspect of the FR. Despite its various backtracking and fits and starts, Popkin makes the case that slavery and abolition was debated explicitly by the republican leaders, unlike how it was more or less swept under the rug (temporarily) in America.This is a respectable work and Popkin’s decades of research on the subject is apparent throughout. Some of the rhetoric around the FR’s break with the past and its legacy to western liberalism is overblown, and the enduring nature of its tragic excesses doesn’t get as much emphasis as deserved. The colonial issues and debates over freedom and slavery and their importance to the broader picture of the FR is treated very well. At the end of the day, I still won’t be celebrating Bastille Day, but how boring would it be to only read writers with which you agree.

2. 

   Daniel Olguin – August 13, 2024

   aunque el producto es lo esperado, el servicio de entrega ha sido pésimo, no lo dejo en mi domicilio,lo dejo botado en el jardín de un vecino, sin embargo en la página de amazon aparece como entregadoa un residente de mi domicilio, afirmación que es falsa.el vecino donde fue dejado mi paquete me lo entrego poco después,notifique al servicio de atención a clientes de amazon del servicio deplorable, me ofrecieron devolucióndel monto y gastos de envio, sin embargo no he recibido ningún reembolso

3. 

   AncBedran – August 13, 2024

   I was looking for a more recently written history of the French Revolution because of the relevance modern history research tecnichs and new documentations, interpretations and, above all in this particular book, players or places, peoples of immense importance that were almost not commented in many other books: slaves and women!A very pleasant reading and a key to understand more the world today.With half a century studying the subject, Professor Jeremy D. Popkin gave the world a new and deeper vision of the French Revolution.

4. 

   Paradesi K.Yarikipati – August 13, 2024

   When democracies in the world turning to dictatorships.. showing scant regard for freedom and human rights.. reading of the history of French Revolution gives hope that it’s impossible to put down individual freedom and liberty.. Jeremy D.Popkin presented a live history of the Revolution as it is happened..a must read..

5. 

   Colin Nelson – August 13, 2024

   A very well written book, plenty of interesting comments regarding the attempt to introduce total equality for all men regardless of political, racial or religious beliefs.