McPhee synthesizes the most recent research into the social history of France from the collapse of the Ancien Regime to the consolidation of the Third Republic.

"This book is the first to synthesize in English the most recent research into the social history of France, from the collapse of the Ancien Regime to the consolidation of the Third Republic. By placing relations of power at the heart of his analysis, the author offers a new and coherent perspective on the relationship between political upheaval, economic change, the construction of new ideologies of gender and ethnicity, and daily life. The book offers to students a lively and clear introduction to this complex and fascinating society and provides specialists with a model for the interpretation of French social history."--pub. desc.

Three decades ago, François Furet famously announced that the French Revolution was over. Napoleon's armies ceased to march around Europe long ago, and Louis XVIII even returned to occupy the throne of his guillotined brother. And yet the Revolutionâ (TM)s memory continues to hold sway over imaginations and cultures around the world. This sway is felt particularly strongly by those who are interested in history: for the French Revolution not only altered the course of history radically, but became the fountainhead of historicism and the origin of the historical mentality. The sixteen essays collected in this volume investigate the Revolutionâ (TM)s intellectual and material legacies. From popular culture to education and politics, from France and Ireland to Poland and Turkey, from 1789 to the present day, leading historians expose, alongside graduate students, the myriad ways in which the Revolution changed humanityâ (TM)s possible futures, its history, and the idea of history. They attest to how the Revolution has had a continuing global significance, and is still shaping the world today.

Offers a broad and vivid overview of the culture of collecting in France over the long nineteenth-century.

This volume provides an authoritative synthesis of recent work on the social history of France and is now thoroughly revised and updated to cover the 'long nineteenth century' from 1789-1914. Peter McPhee offers both a readable narrative and a distinctive, coherent argument about this century. McPhee explores themes such as peasant interaction with the environment, the changing experience of work and leisure, the nature of crime and protest, changing demographic patterns and family structure, the religious practices of workers and peasants, and the ideology and internal repercussions of colonisation.

This book argues that the introduction of popular sovereignty as the basis for government in France facilitated a dramatic transformation in international law in the eighteenth century.

This book provides students and general readers with an introduction to revolutionary France whilst also presenting a clear argument to explain the events of the period. Provides students and general readers with an introduction to revolutionary France . Also presents a clear argument to explain the events of the period. Argues that the French Revolution encountered resistance from the poor as well as the privileged. Includes substantial discussion of society and government under Napoleon. Contextualizing material in each chapter aids students new to the topic.

On 14 July 1789 thousands of Parisians seized the Bastille fortress in Paris. This was the most famous episode of the Revolution of 1789, when huge numbers of French people across the kingdom successfully rebelled against absolute monarchy and the privileges of the nobility. But the subsequent struggle over what social and political system should replace the 'Old Rgime' was to divide French people and finally the whole of Europe. The French Revolution is one of the great turning-points in history. It continues to fascinate us, to inspire us, at times to horrify us. Never before had the people of a large and populous country sought to remake their society on the basis of the principles of liberty and equality. The drama, success and tragedy of their project have attracted students to it for more than two centuries. Its importance and fascination for us are undiminished as we try to understand revolutions in our own times. There are three key questions the book investigates. First, why was there a revolution in 1789? Second, why did the revolution continue after 1789, culminating in civil war, foreign invasion and terror? Third, what was the significance of the revolution? Was the French Revolution a major turning-point in French, even world history, or instead just a protracted period of violent upheaval and warfare which wrecked millions of lives? This new edition of The French Revolution contains revised text and new photographs. This edition includes video footage of Peter McPhee's interviews with Professor Ian Germani, University of Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada, on the role of military discipline in the French Revolutionary Wars; Dr Marisa Linton, Kingston University in London, about her book, Choosing Terror: Virtue, Friendship and Authenticity in the French Revolution, a major study of the politics of Jacobinism; and Professor Timothy Tackett, University of California, Irvine, on the origins of terror in the French Revolution.

This thoroughly revised, updated and expanded new edition of an established text surveys the cultural, social and political history of France from the Franco-Prussian War of 1870 and the Paris Commune through to Emmanuel Macron's presidency. Incorporating the newest interpretations of past events, Sowerwine seamlessly integrates culture, gender, and race into political and social history. This edition features extended coverage of the 2007-8 financial crisis, the rise of the political and cultural far right and the issues of colonialism and its contemporary repercussions. This is an essential resource for undergraduate and taught postgraduate students of history, French studies or European studies taking courses on modern French history or European history. This text will also appeal to scholars and readers with an interest in modern French history. 'Richly informative and lucidly presented, Sowerwine's France since 1870 offers essential reading for students and researchers. Particularly powerful is the new final chapter, which draws on historical expertise to explore and explain the literary and political malaise of contemporary France.' – Jessica Wardhaugh, University of Warwick, UK. 'This third edition is unparalleled in its reach and excellence as a history of modern France from 1870 to the present. Sowerwine seamlessly integrates culture, gender, and race into political and social history. His incorporation of the newest interpretations of past events as well as the historical perspective he lends to current events such as terror attacks, new laws regarding labor and marriage, modern globalization, neo-liberalism-as well as to France's darkening mood--make this highly readable book a true masterpiece.' – Elinor Accampo, University of Southern California, USA. 'Her recent social and economic challenges have cast deep shadows into the story of modern France that Charles Sowerwine tells so clearly. Those dark questions about culture, politics and society have their full place in this This scholarly but accessible reassessment of French history since 1870. This edition raises new questions about France's story, directly and compellingly, and remains the key text for readers who are curious about modern France.' – Julian Wright, Northumbria University, UK. 'Following on the fine precedent set by earlier editions, this masterful survey offers students and the public alike a readable and illuminating account of the tortuous and ever intriguing path of French history since 1870.' – George Sheridan, University of Oregon, USA.

Much has been written about the origins of the great push which led Europe to colonise sub-Saharan Africa at the end of the nineteenth century. This book provides a new perspective on this controversial subject by focussing on Europe and a range of empire-building states: Germany, France, Italy and Portugal. The essays in this volume consider economic themes in addition to the political and cultural aspects of the transition from commerce to colonies.