As you may remember, I went back to university in my mid-fifties to get a college degree, ending up with a B.A. in Modern Western European History. There’s no reason for having specialized in that as opposed to say Classical History (which I had studied before, many years ago), because to me, pretty much all history is interesting.
Anyway, one of the courses I took was on the French Revolution, delivered by one of my favorite professors, Michael Leggieri*. He opened the course by giving a single lecture on what exactly the French were revolting against. It wasn’t just the monarchy and the Church they hated so much (with, it should be said, considerable justification), but theirs was a reaction to the entire societal structure, which was largely still medieval and had the effect of not only grinding the noses of the common people into poverty, but preventing them from ever rising out of that miserable state.
Small wonder they went all French (i.e. overboard) and took a long trip down Guillotine Road. I might have done the same, in their position.
Anyway, Leggieri’s lecture lit a spark in me (as so many did), because I had no more than a passing acquaintance with the period between the Dark Ages and said Revolution in Europe.
Sadly, Life intervened and I wasn’t able to devote much time to studying that period… until now. I was chatting to New Wife the other night, and told her that I’d been doing a lot of reading while she was gadding about Seffrica with the Beloved Grandchildren. When she asked me what I’d been reading and I told her (history, duh), she ordered me to go to Half Price Books and get more because Aren’t You Sick Of Reading About The Same History All The Time?
Well, no; but the point was a valid one.
So off I went, and the first book to catch my eye should be a decent gateway, I think, into further study: the New Cambridge Modern History VII: The Old Regime 1713-63. It’s seems like a fairly comprehensive study, I think (after but a cursory glance at the contents pages), but it should set the scene properly. This work was first published in 1957 so it may be free of modernistic cant, but we’ll see.
And now, if you’ll excuse me… this book isn’t going to read itself.
*I see that Mike Leggieri has left U. North Texas and ended up at the University of Florida as . They are lucky, because he’s one of the best — and that’s not just my opinion, either. (He’s also very conservative, which helps.)
The French revolution is an area of history where my knowledge is deficient. If you could recommend any books on the subject I would appreciate it. Even the textbook you used in class would help. The French Revolution occurred because the pendulum swung too far in one direction so people revolted against the system then the revolution went too far in the opposite direction to the point that even Robespierre lost his head. Then the Revolution tempered I believe.
You were lucky to get a good prof. I have my BA in history. I never was fortunate enough to have a conservative prof (My Crusades prof came close) but I attended during the period where the old guard was aging out and the department was getting staffed with the New Left assholes that were professional students from the 60’s & 70’s. The old timers were still good historians & lecturers, the young ‘uns sucked and were the equivalent of Woke in the early 90’s. To this day even though I had to attend their classes I cannot tell you one thing I leared (Somali spelling) from them.
I was always interested in the era you are speaking of but from the England and Prussian perspective. Right up until after WWI. After that my interest fades.
Not just one, but two good professors. Mike Leggieri was one, Alfred Mierzejewski was another. Not just good, but outstanding.
Leggieri was always off touring Napoleonic battlefields with people like Bismarck’s great-grandson and hosting seminars at University College of London, while Mierzejewski is a world-renowned expert on European economics history — among other things, he wrote the definitive biography of Ludwig Erhardt, the architect of Germany’s post-WWII recovery.
The rest of UNT’s History department was… disappointing.
For fuck sake Kim. For the first time ever I am covetous of something now. I would have LOVED to sit with those two.
Now I have another sin to confess.
Some French history.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=diEVmQZ1QfM
thank you.
history may (or may not) rhyme, but “get rich quick” schemers will always aboud
and even knowing history and seeing the scheme, fools (90% of the populace) will dive right in