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My plan is to read about the french revolution and as such I was thinking about reading the books recommended by Five Books[1]: 1. Ancien Regime and the Revolu

• chance_state 7y ago
  That's a great list. What made you interested in the subject?
  • Pandabob 7y ago
    A couple of years ago a friend mentioned a now infamous quote by the Chinese prime minister Zhou Enlai, who, when asked by Henry Kissinger what he thought about the French Revolution, said that it's "too early to tell"[1]. Apparently he was referring to the revolutions of 1968, but the quote has taken a life of its own to kind of describe the magnitude of the actual french revolution. Anyway, it's been 15 years since I first really learned about the revolution in high school and after hearing the quote I've been skimming the wikipedia page every now and then and it just seems like one of the most fascinating events in the history of the western world. In the span of 30 years: - The french kill their king - They're the first monarchy to convert into a republic - Most of the early leaders of the revolution die, apparently because they're so brutal - The whole thing ends with Napoleon becoming emperor and conquering half of Europe. Also at the same time the industrial revolution is going on. I think that for someone who's living in 2020 it's hard to put into context the magnitude of the changes for the people at the time. Absolutely fascinating stuff. [1]: https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780191826719.001.0001/q-oro-ed4-00018657 https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/978019182...
• habnds 7y ago
  Anatomy of a revolution is a good one to frame the French rev in the context of the other revolutions of that time. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/648063.The_Anatomy_of_Revolution https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/648063.The_Anatomy_of_Re...
• rihegher 7y ago
  In your case I can't recommend enough joseph fouché by stefan zweig