Download PDF The Ancien Régime and the Revolution Penguin Classics Alexis de Tocqueville Gerald Bevan 9780141441641 Books
Download As PDF : The Ancien Régime and the Revolution Penguin Classics Alexis de Tocqueville Gerald Bevan 9780141441641 Books
A powerful new translation of de Tocqueville's influential look at the origins of modern France
The Ancien Régime and the Revolution is a comparison of revolutionary France and the despotic rule it toppled. Alexis de Tocqueville (1805–59) is an objective observer of both periods – providing a merciless critique of the ancien régime, with its venality, oppression and inequality, yet acknowledging the reforms introduced under Louis XVI, and claiming that the post-Revolution state was in many ways as tyrannical as that of the King; its once lofty and egalitarian ideals corrupted and forgotten. Writing in the 1850s, Tocqueville wished to expose the return to despotism he witnessed in his own time under Napoleon III, by illuminating the grand, but ultimately doomed, call to liberty made by the French people in 1789. His eloquent and instructive study raises questions about liberty, nationalism and justice that remain urgent today.
For more than seventy years, Penguin has been the leading publisher of classic literature in the English-speaking world. With more than 1,700 titles, Penguin Classics represents a global bookshelf of the best works throughout history and across genres and disciplines. Readers trust the series to provide authoritative texts enhanced by introductions and notes by distinguished scholars and contemporary authors, as well as up-to-date translations by award-winning translators.
Download PDF The Ancien Régime and the Revolution Penguin Classics Alexis de Tocqueville Gerald Bevan 9780141441641 Books
"This inexpensive edition of Tocqueville's perhaps lesser-known work is excellent. I had read "Democracy in America" but was unaware of the existence of this work. The author digs deeply into largely-ignored library resources to document this well-organized investigation of the changes in French cultural from the Manorial System to the French Revolution. What emerges is an explanation of what France lost during the centralized administration of Louis XIV and his successors. The Revolution itself failed to produce democracy because it had lost contact with the roots of local government. Written after Tocqueville had come to see what the emerging democracy in America looked like, this book is an excellent source."
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The Ancien Régime and the Revolution Penguin Classics Alexis de Tocqueville Gerald Bevan 9780141441641 Books Reviews :
The Ancien Régime and the Revolution Penguin Classics Alexis de Tocqueville Gerald Bevan 9780141441641 Books Reviews
- This inexpensive edition of Tocqueville's perhaps lesser-known work is excellent. I had read "Democracy in America" but was unaware of the existence of this work. The author digs deeply into largely-ignored library resources to document this well-organized investigation of the changes in French cultural from the Manorial System to the French Revolution. What emerges is an explanation of what France lost during the centralized administration of Louis XIV and his successors. The Revolution itself failed to produce democracy because it had lost contact with the roots of local government. Written after Tocqueville had come to see what the emerging democracy in America looked like, this book is an excellent source.
- The author gives the social, economic and political background of the French Revolution, and/ or the revolutions that followed the first one.
The book becomes tedious at points in the story, but is a worthwhile read if one is has a love for history of the western world.
Alexis de Tocqueville is also the author of Democracy in America, a very important book on our developing a new world order
and his wise advice on maintaining our democratic form of government.. - Edmund Burke's critique of the French Revolution might be the most famous work about that historical event, but Alexis de Tocqueville in the 1850s looked back at that revolution as well in "The Ancien Régime and the Revolution".
De Tocqueville examines what the Revolution did and did not set out to do and the extent to which it was or was not a revolution against religion. He believed that many customs and ideas of the Ancien Régime actually survived the Revolution and that centralization of power was furthered, not impeded, by it.
The author agreed with Burke on the overarching point that gradual reforms of existing institutions are the best way to improve societies, but he did disagree with Burke on some less important issues.
De Tocqueville looks at the issue of class and how the social classes in France eventually became isolated from each other. Some of the other observations he made include the importance of public opinion even under monarchies; the effects of despotism on the altruism of a populace; the supercilious attitude that many government bureaucrats and administrators have toward the populace (something that hasn't changed even today); that rulers who seek to destroy freedom while seeking to preserve its outward form always fail; and the remarkable observation that revolutions sometimes occur not when conditions go from bad to worse, but when conditions are gradually getting better.
Much as the author was able to examine America, he closes with a list of distinct French character traits and contradictions that contributed to the Revolution. This work may be of interest to those who have read Burke's work and want to see how de Tocqueville differs with him or to those who have read Democracy in America and want to plumb deeper into de Tocqueville's oeuvre. - Great translation. This book is peerless. Written by one of the wisest observers of politics ever born, with all of the experience of human history behind his observations and a clear, undramatic, persuasive style. There are quotable moments on every page.
- This may not be the best book that I have ever read, but it is certainly among the most important. The conditions leading up the French Revolution are still alive and well and relevant today. As they say "plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose".
This book is not necessarily long or difficult to understand but it is dense. I believe that it is best read once and then studied in detail. - What can you say? Everything this man wrote is amazing. This book is not about the Revolution, but the reasons behind the Revolutions.
- It was almost eerie that much of the book could have been written today. The insights into that time (and ours) are very thought provoking.
- Extraordinary book. Detailing conditions immediately before the French Revolution.
Translated into easy-to-read prose.
Full of fascinating facts.
Highly recommended to anyone interested in this subject matter.
It is in marked contrast to the subject as typically treated (if at all) in textbooks.
