A Critical Dictionary of the French Revolution

François Furet, Mona Ozouf

Harvard University Press, 1989 - History - 1063 pages

Two centuries later, the French Revolution--that extraordinary event that founded modern democracy--continues to give rise to a reevaluation of essential questions. The ambition of this magnificent volume is not only to present the reader with the research of a wide range of international scholars on those questions, but also to bring one into the heart of the issues still under lively debate.

Its form is as original as its goal: neither dictionary, in the traditional sense of the word, nor encyclopedia, it is deliberately limited to some ninety-nine entries organized alphabetically by key words and themes under five major headings: events, including the Estates General and the Terror; actors, such as Marie Antoinette, Marat, and Napoleon Bonaparte; institutions and creations, among them Revolutionary Calendar and Suffrage; ideas, covering, for example, Ancien R gime, the American Revolution, and Liberty; and historians and commentators, from Hegel to Tocqueville. In addition, there are synoptic indexes of names and themes that give the reader easy access to the entire volume as well as a key to its profound coherence.

What unifies all the varied topics brought together in this dictionary is their authors' effort to be "critical." As such, the book rejects the dogmatism of closed systems and definitive interpretations. Its aim is less to make a complete inventory of the findings of the history of the French Revolution than to take stock of what remains problematical about those findings; this work thus offers the additional special quality of incorporating the rich historiographical literature unceasingly elaborated since 1789.

With A Critical Dictionary of the French Revolution, Fran ois Furet and Mona Ozouf invite the reader to recross the first two centuries of French democracy in order to gain a better understanding of the origins of the world in which we live today.

Contents

• EVENTS: 15
• Chouannerie: 44
• Federalism: 54
• Great Fear: 65
• Mona Ozouf: 73
• Jacques Revel: 80
• François Furet: 113
• Denis Richet: 154
• Mona Ozouf: 164
• Patrice Gueniffey: 203
• 20: 274
• 33: 295
• Groups: 324
• 45: 334
• Enragés Denis Richet: 337
• Denis Richet: 341
• Feuillants Ran Halévi: 343
• Girondins Mona Ozouf: 351
• Kings Trial: 352
• Hébertists Denis Richet: 363
• Monarchiens Ran Halévi: 370
• Montagnards Mona Ozouf: 380
• Night of August 4: 390
• Sansculottes Patrice Higonnet: 393
• Thermidorians Bronislaw Baczko: 400
• The Revolution and Europe: 424
• INSTITUTIONS AND CREATIONS: 432
• Civil Constitution of the Clergy François Furet: 449
• Clubs and Popular Societies Patrice Gueniffey and Ran Halévi: 458
• Committee of Public Safety Denis Richet: 474
• Département Mona Ozouf: 494
• Maximum François Furet: 504
• National Properties Louis Bergeron: 511
• Revolutionary Journées: 528
• Revolutionary Assemblies Denis Richet: 529
• Revolutionary Government François Furet: 548
• Suffrage Patrice Gueniffey: 571
• American Revolution Philippe Raynaud: 593
• Aristocracy David D Bien: 616
• Centralization Yann Fauchois: 629
• Democracy Philippe Raynaud: 649
• Equality Mona Ozouf: 669
• Feudal System François Furet: 684
• Jacobinism François Furet: 704
• Montesquieu Bernard Manin: 728
• Nation Pierre Nora: 742
• Natural Borders Denis Richet: 754
• Treaties of Basel and The Hague: 760
• Public Spirit Mona Ozouf: 771
• Republic Pierre Nora: 792
• Varennes: 794
• Revolution Mona Ozouf: 806
• Rousseau Bernard Manin: 829
• Sovereignty Keith M Baker: 844
• Vendée: 855
• Vandalism Bronislaw Baczko: 860
• HISTORIANS AND COMMENTATORS: 879
• Blanc François Furet: 900
• Buchez François Furet: 908
• Burke Gérard Gengembre: 916
• Constant Marcel Gauchet: 924
• Fichte Luc Ferry: 933
• Hegel Luc Ferry: 945
• Jaurès Mona Ozouf: 950
• Kant Luc Ferry: 964
• Marx François Furet: 972
• Michelet François Furet: 980
• ACTORS: 984
• Quinet François Furet: 991
• Staël Marcel Gauchet: 1003
• Taine Mona Ozouf: 1011
• Tocqueville François Furet: 1021
• Babeuf: 1035
• Subject Index: 1056
• Alphabetical List of Articles: 1063

About the author

François Furet, former president of the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales, is presently director of the Institut Raymond-Aron in Paris and Professor of History and Social Thought at the University of Chicago. Mona Ozouf is Director of Research at the Centre Nationale de la Recherche Scientifique, Paris.

Bibliographic information

• Title: A Critical Dictionary of the French Revolution
• Editors: François Furet, Mona Ozouf
• Edition: illustrated
• Publisher: Harvard University Press, 1989
• ISBN: 0674177282, 9780674177284
• Length: 1063 pages
• Subjects: History / Europe / France; History / General; History / Military / Revolutions & Wars of Independence; Reference / General