Books on the French Revolution

[Rudi]

Hey comrades

Would anybody be able to recommend to me any non-bourgeois accounts of the French Revolution? Have there been any marxist historians who have written about the French Revolution? Also, are there any works on Robespierre or saint just that are written by marxists?

[Lorax]

Many Marxist historians have written extensively about the French Revolution. I would suggest that you start by looking at the wikipedia page titled "Historiography of the French Revolution." Henry Heller's "The Bourgeois Revolution in France" is perhaps the most prominent recent Marxist history of the French Revolution.

[S.Artesian]

First and foremost, I would recommend Soboul's The French Revolution, 1787-1799, and The Sans-Culottes.

Also Mathiez's The French Revolution which he followed up with After Robespierre.

[Lacrimi de Chiciură]

The Masses Arise: The Great French Revolution 1789-1815 (http://www.socialistparty.org.uk/articles/7436) by Peter Taaffe covers the main events of the French revolution from a Marxist perspective.

[Rowan Duffy]

Class Struggle in the First French Republic - Guerin
The Great French Revolution - Kropotkin

[Misanthrope]

The Age of Revolution 1789-1848 by Eric John Ernest Hobsbawm

[Rooster]

Heh... for a light read you could try Mark Steel's Vive La Revolution (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Vive-Revolution-Mark-Steel/dp/0743208064/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1307221699&sr=8-1). There's actually a quite decent list of sources and books at the back to that to be fair.

[Red Future]

Just stay clear of works such as Simon Schamas "Citizens".

[S.Artesian]

Forgot about the Guerin book. A little expensive, but worthwhile. Thanks.

[Rudi]

Thanks guys for all the recommendations!

Has anyone read these two books by the British Marxist Historian George Rude: The French Revolution and Robespierre: Portrait of a Revolutionary Democrat? The latter is a Marxist defence of Robespierre who is compared to Lenin and Mao.

[bailey_187]

The Mark Steel books is a good introduction IMO. Its not particularly indepth, but it will give u a basic overview, and its from a Marxist. After you have read that i would recommend maybe some other texts in this thread. Maybe it was just for me, but i feel maybe u will get lost if you attempt to read George Rude or someone straight away. Maybe you wont, but i did.

[blake 3:17]

George Rude wrote several brilliant books on the French Revolution. I believe the one I studied was simply called The French Revolution. Rude was part of same circle as Eric Hobsbawn and E.P. Thompson.

[Jimmie Higgins]

Heh... for a light read you could try Mark Steel's Vive La Revolution (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Vive-Revolution-Mark-Steel/dp/0743208064/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1307221699&sr=8-1). There's actually a quite decent list of sources and books at the back to that to be fair.Yeah it's also a great introduction and survey for beginners in this subject - and arms you really well with witty rebuttals of the most common myths and arguments against the revolutions "mob rule" and "bloodthirsty" revolutionists.

[Rakhmetov]

Hey comrades

Would anybody be able to recommend to me any non-bourgeois accounts of the French Revolution? Have there been any marxist historians who have written about the French Revolution? Also, are there any works on Robespierre or saint just that are written by marxists?


I read a brilliant intellectual biography of Robespierre by professor David Jordan. In it he names a Marxist biography of Robespierre by a French biographer---but it is in French by Jean Massin (http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=ntt_athr_dp_sr_1?_encoding=UTF8&sort=relevancerank&search-alias=books&field-author=Jean%20Massin)


Still Jordan's work is worth reading ...

http://www.amazon.com/Revolutionary-Career-Maximilien-Robespierre/dp/0226410374/ref=sr_1_5?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1307554413&sr=1-5

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6EvakM9Waus

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U2oHmIFNW_A&feature=related

[RedTrackWorker]

Black Jacobins by CLR James

[Rudi]

Thanks Rakhmentov! Very helpful again.

Guys please stop recommending to me Mark Steel lmao...Just to clarify: I have read books on the revolution but only by bourgeois historians.