Becoming a Revolutionary

Princeton Legacy Library

by Timothy Tackett

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 it--the 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.

Virtually all deputies were familiar with some elements of the Enlightenment, yet little evidence can be found before the Revolution of a coherent oppositional "ideology" or "discourse." Far from the inexperienced ideologues depicted by the revisionists, the Third Estate deputies emerge as practical men, more attracted to law, history, and science than to abstract philosophy. Insofar as they received advance instruction in the possibility of extensive reform, it came less from reading books than from involvement in municipal and regional politics and from the actions and decrees of the monarchy itself. Before their arrival in Versailles, few deputies envisioned changes that could be construed as "Revolutionary." Such new ideas emerged primarily in the process of the Assembly itself and continued to develop, in many cases, throughout the first year of the Revolution.

Originally published in 1996.

The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

Genres: History, French Revolution, Nonfiction, France, 18th Century, Politics

360 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1996

Reviews

[n · Rating 2 out of 5]

The readability of this book is... minimal. If you've ever wondered what an inventory (or a budget, a list of quotes, or a CV/resume) would look like if someone had turned it into a narrative, it would be this. It becomes cumbersome to even focus as you're told the individual wealth of each deputy, of their so-called qualifications, of their (possible) relationship to either Rousseau or Voltaire... It's exhausting, and it would make a great case study of why historians should learn to write for an audience (and I'm saying this as someone who also studied and taught history).

It's frustrating because a lot of the information could be interesting, but you have to slog through a lot of stuff that could've been better outlined as a table or a chart.

[Jim Gulley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Timothy Tackett takes us into the hearts and minds of the deputies to France’s Estates General in 1789 through their personal correspondences and memoirs. By tapping into these primary sources, he traced the mood swings and intricate political maneuvering that resulted in the formation of the National Assembly on June 17 of that year. These sources carry us through the tumultuous events that eventually led to the fall of the monarchy and the establishment of the Republic.

[Andrea Samorini]

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FROM BOOK: Un nuovo mondo inizia: La storia della Rivoluzione francese (Jeremy D. Popkin)

[WuyaNoodle · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think this book is necessary for everyone who wants to truly understand the French Revolution.

[Jackson Cyril · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good study on the very early stages of the French Revolution. Tackett provides a detailed study on the deputies gathered in the assembly and how these men, none of whom really wanted to over throw the ancien regime when first gathered ended up ushering in the most radical revolution the world had seen up to that point. Good if you're interested in the revolution, and if you're interested in how the lack of a good strong leader ( which Louis XVI was not)can lead to very bad things. If you're looking for a general survey of the revolution, skip this book. It's very detailed as I said before, and not targeted at addressing general questions regarding the revolution .