Books
Citizens: A Chronicle of the French Revolution (1989) – Simon Schama
A doorstop that goes into great detail, yet the writing is always engaging. Schama is not one to romanticize the Revolution, arguing that the monarchy was actually moving toward modernization, and that the Revolution primarily unleashed a wave of destructive violence.
The French Revolution (2002) – Christopher Hibbert
Another well-written overview, highly readable and focusing on portraits of the Revolution’s major players.
Interpreting the French Revolution (1981) – François Furet
Furet is France’s preeminent Revolution scholar. Somewhat academic, but a fascinating argument that the Revolution was less a class struggle, than a “linguistic and ideological event” that inadvertently invented the modern totalitarian state.
The Great Cat Massacre and Other Episodes in French Cultural History (1984) – Robert Darnton
Darton is probably America’s most prominent Revolution scholar, and here, rather than looking at specific events of the Revolution itself, her investigates the mindset of ordinary French citizens in the decades leading up to 1789. Through underground printing presses, folk tales, and weird urban riots, he reveals the deep anti-authoritarian currents brewing among the French.
The Twelve Who Ruled: The Year of Terror in the French Revolution (1941) – R.R. Palmer
Focuses exclusively on the one-year Reign of Terror and the twelve men on the Committee of Public Safety. Reads like a psychological political thriller, showing how this brilliant, flawed, motley crew mismanaged power in the name of saving the Republic.
A Place of Greater Safety (1992) – Hilary Mantel
Another doorstop, and a deeply researched work of historical fiction by the author of Wolf Hall. Focuses on the inner lives, personal relationships, and tragic rivalries of the three main architects of the Revolution: Georges Danton, Maximilien Robespierre, and Camille Desmoulins.
Movies
Ridicule (1996) – Patrice Leconte
Funny, beautiful, compelling satire. Set mostly at Versailles in the years just before 1789. A minor noble comes to town trying to secure funding for a drainage project and encounters a ruling class for whom wit matters more than the widespread starvation of the peasantry.
Jefferson in Paris (1995) – James Ivory
Somewhat liberal with the facts, but a beautiful production following Thomas Jefferson during his tenure as the American ambassador to France, including how French intellectuals drew inspiration from the American Revolution.
Danton (1983) – Andrzej Wajda
A tense political drama pitting radicals Georges Danton (Gérard Depardieu) and Maximilien Robespierre as increasing paranoia leads to the Reign of Terror, where revolutionary idealism ends up devouring itself.
The Lady and the Duke (L’Anglaise et le duc, 2001) – Éric Rohmer
The true(ish) story of Grace Elliott, a Scottish royalist living in Paris during the Terror, and her complex relationship with the Duke of Orléans (of Palais Royal fame). The film uses an interesting technique of superimposing actors onto digital backgrounds mimicking 18th-century paintings.
Marie Antoinette (2006) – Sofia Coppola
Little basis in fact (nobody wore Converse shoes at Versailles), but that’s not the point. A sympathetic look at how a lonely, teenaged Marie Antoinette might have felt as the Revolution slowly comes to a boil.
Podcasts
The Rest Is History: The French Revolution
Good overview with entertaining hosts.
Revolutions: The French Revolution
An exhaustive 30-hour series.
Questions? You can always reach me here: contact@joshshoemake.com.