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Becoming a Revolutionary: The Deputies of the French National Assembly and the Emergence of a Revolutionary Culture (1789-1790)
Contributor(s): Tackett, Timothy (Author)
ISBN: 0271028882     ISBN-13: 9780271028880
Publisher: Penn State University Press
OUR PRICE:   $41.53  
Product Type: Paperback - Other Formats
Published: January 2006
Qty:
Annotation: Here Timothy Tackett tests some of the diverse explanations of the origins of the French Revolution by examining the psychological itineraries of the individuals who launched itthe deputies of the Estates General and the National Assembly. Based on a wide variety of sources, notably the letters and diaries of over a hundred deputies, the book assesses their collective biographies and their cultural and political experience before and after 1789. In the face of the current "revisionist" orthodoxy, it argues that members of the Third Estate differed dramatically from the Nobility in wealth, status, and culture.
Additional Information
BISAC Categories:
- History | Europe - France
- History | Revolutionary
- History | Modern - 18th Century
Dewey: 944.04
LCCN: 2005056687
Physical Information: 0.9" H x 6.1" W x 9.1" (1.15 lbs) 372 pages
Themes:
- Chronological Period - 18th Century
- Cultural Region - French
 
Descriptions, Reviews, Etc.
Publisher Description:

Winner of the Leo Gershoy Prize from the American Historical Association, 1998, for the best book in Early Modern European History.

Timothy Tackett's Becoming a Revolutionary revisits one of the most controversial moments in history: the beginning of the French Revolution. How did it arise? Why did French men and women become revolutionaries? To answer these questions, Tackett focuses on the experiences of the 1200 members of the first French National Assembly. Drawing upon on a wide range of sources, including contemporary letters and diaries, Tackett shows that the deputies were a group of practical men, whose ideas were governed more by concrete subjects than by abstract philosophy. Though it may seem surprising now, most of the deputies were actually in support of the king. Instead of being initiated as a result of a specific ideology founded on Enlightenment principles, the ideas that eventually led to the French Revolution were, instead, a direct result of the actual process of the Assembly.

First published in 1996 and hailed as an "exemplary product of the historian's craft," Becoming a Revolutionary is now available in paperback for the first time.


Contributor Bio(s): Tackett, Timothy: - Timothy Tackett is Professor of History at the University of California, Irvine. His most recent book is When the King Took Flight (2003).