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The making of revolutionary Paris
David Garrioch
Published by University of California Press (2002) |
Book description
The sights, sounds, and smells of life on the streets and in the houses
of eighteenth-century Paris rise from the pages of this marvellously anecdotal
chronicle of a perpetually alluring city during one hundred years of extraordinary
social and cultural change. An excellent general history as well as an innovative
synthesis of new research, The Making of Revolutionary Paris combines vivid
portraits of individual lives, accounts of social trends, and analyses of
significant events as it explores the evolution of Parisian society during
the eighteenth century and reveals the city's pivotal role in shaping the
French Revolution. David Garrioch rewrites the origins of the Parisian Revolution
as the story of an urban metamorphosis stimulated by factors such as the
spread of the Enlightenment, the growth of consumerism, and new ideas about
urban space. With an eye on the broad social trends emerging during the century,
he focuses his narrative on such humble but fascinating aspects of daily
life as traffic congestion, a controversy over the renumbering of houses,
and the ever-present dilemma of where to bury the dead. He describes changes
in family life and women's social status, in religion, in the literary imagination,
and in politics. Paris played a significant role in sparking the French Revolution,
and in turn, the Revolution changed the city, not only its political structures
but also its social organization, gender ideologies, and cultural practices.
This book is the first to look comprehensively at the effect of the Revolution
on city life. Based on the author's own research in Paris and on the most
current scholarship, this absorbing book takes French history in new directions,
providing a new understanding of the Parisian and the European past. 36 b/w
illustrations, 4 maps, 1 table
About the Author
David Garrioch is Associate Professor of History at Monash University,
and author of The Formation of the Parisian Bourgeoisie, 1690-1830 (1996)
and Neighborhood and Community in Paris, 1740-1790 (1986).
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