Why read The Social Interpretation of the French Revolution?

Book cover of The Social Interpretation of the French Revolution

Book description

Alfred Cobban's The Social Interpretation of the French Revolution is one of the acknowledged classics of post-war historiography. This 'revisionist' analysis of the French Revolution caused a furore on first publication in 1964, challenging as it did established orthodoxies during the crucial period of the Cold War. Cobban saw the…

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European history

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Why read it?

1 author picked The Social Interpretation of the French Revolution as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

Raphaël Franck

Author

This book provided me with a fresh perspective on the 1789 Revolution in France.

I like its convincing analysis that the French Revolution was not a movement that directly caused or resulted from the Industrial Revolution.

Instead, it argues that it was a political revolution with “anti-capitalist” consequences: it solidified the agricultural pattern of small landowners, thereby explaining why France had remained relatively more agricultural than England or Germany by the turn of the twentieth century.

From Raphaël's list on The best books about revolutions and democratization.