The History of Civilization in Europe

by François Guizot, Larry Siedentop (Editor), William Hazlitt (Translator)

In response to the reactionary arguments of ultra-royalists, Francois Guizot (1787-1874) showed that aristocratic social conditions had gone for ever. The growth of towns and a market economy had forged the bourgeoisie and created a 'democratic' (or capitalist) society based on individual rights. Yet in France, if not in England, this just and inevitable process had been accompanied by the destruction of local autonomy and the creation of an overpowerful state bureaucracy. The History stresses the role of class conflict as a catalyst for social change, and the energizing effect of Europe's plural traditions (Roman, Christian and Germanic). Such themes, argues Siedentop, deeply influenced the thinking of his three great contemporaries Tocqueville, Marx and Mill, revealing Guizot as both 'the key to an epoch' and 'the most trenchant historical mind of the nineteenth century'.

Genres: History, Philosophy, French Literature, European History, Nonfiction, Classics, French Revolution

304 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1828

About the author

François Pierre Guillaume Guizot was a French historian, orator, and statesman. Guizot was a dominant figure in French politics prior to the Revolution of 1848, a conservative liberal who opposed the attempt by King Charles X to usurp legislative power, and worked to sustain a constitutional monarchy following the July Revolution of 1830.

Reviews

[Eric · Rating 4 out of 5]

雖然不是第一次閱讀通史類的歐洲史讀物的，但是依然被作者博大的視野所折服。不論內容中主觀性的多少，沒有對歷史淵博的知識與深刻的理解，是無法用如此簡單的語言高度概括並總結出文明發展的核心要素與重大事件。更重要的是，作為一本編成與十九世紀中葉的講稿書，作者的看法也有著獨特的時代烙印的價值，確實為今天的歷史愛好者提供的新鮮的觀點。

[Jackson Cyril · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's a brilliant work, but a bit too philosophical. Guizot has a view of civilization that he wants to propound, but what's most fascinating is the emphasis he places on class struggle in history. The excellent introduction here suggests that it was of Guizot (and folks like him) that Marx was talking about when he admitted (in the Manifesto I believe) that he was not the first historian to recognize the importance of class struggle, but only the first to recognize, among other things, that the end of class struggle will be the victory of the proletariat and the emergence of a classless society at last.

[foundfoundfound · Rating 5 out of 5]

superb.