Citizens: A Chronicle of the French Revolution by Simon Schama

Spidy S.Spidy S.:

India on Oct 15, 2023

RR Waller: Written in 1989, this is Professor Schama’s third book, a nine hundred and fifty page chronicle of events and a period which fundamentally changed European and world history. It sent shock waves well beyond the French borders. Without doubt, many crowned heads lost much sleep. Schama has become known for writing from unusual perspectives, seeing events in different ways which makes this book a great addition to any already crammed bookshelf on the French Revolution.
Amid the blood and terror, Schama finds the revolutionary zeal which drove the Revolution and sustained its progress. He makes the point that “revolution” was a metaphor drawn from astronomy, a constant turning of worlds to reveal the already known, predictable and anticipated. This revolution was the opposite - inauguration of the novel and the unexpected. (Without doubt, this revolutionary zeal is now part of the French psyche still being played on French streets, e.g. President Macron’s raising of the retirement age was met with wide spread protests, the ramparts replaced by burning tyres and cars.; the gilets jaune nation-wide protests were another modern example. Schama captures the ways in which this...

United Kingdom on Jun 30, 2023

Robin C. Smith: This is one of the top non-fiction history books I have read, and I have read a lot of them. Marvelous and witty writing where Schama brilliantly paints a wonderful portrait of the intellectual currents that produced the revolutionaries and how it went so wrong from such a hopeful beginning. There are many lessons here that we should learn from in our current polarized times. The author display a profound knowledge of the people and the era. Congratulations to him on his achievement. This was a book I have been meaning to read since it was first published and only now over 30 years later have I actually got around to doing so.

United States on Mar 27, 2022

J. Weissberg: I am a history teacher and constantly reading books about world events. This book is unique because it gives the reader intimate details about the people involved. It does not read like your typical history book. It is not a dry list of names, dates, and events. For that, all you need is to Google “timeline of the French Revolution.” This book is special because the author did a tremendous amount of primary source research. One example is his inclusion of a sarcastic joke that Talleyrand told to his friends. The book reads like a novel. Some people are into that, some are not. If you take it slow and read for enjoyment and not for just pure information eventually you’ll see what a gem this book is. Just reading a few pages a day is something I look forward to as a little treat. I’m halfway through and don’t want it to end. I wish more history books were written like this.

United States on Feb 25, 2022

Amazon Customer: I read this book with such passion and energy, that it even disintegrated. If you think, you know about French revolution: why it started and how - ended, so I must to say, you don't know anything. This monumental book describes a well known story through people side: high aristocracy, royal family, academics or just ordinary people. They all had their own stories and different fates.

It is a story about the king, who just wanted to make locks, about the lawyer who planed to create a New Rome and killed all sinister citizens. It is about vagrant doctor, who was insulted by The Academy and became a vicious publisher, who ended his life as new Jesus. Suddenly, subjects were told they had become Citizens; an aggregate of subjects held in place by injustice and intimidation had become a Nation. Don't fear those, who shout loudly, fear those, who are silent, because only these people create a new, bloody regime.

In the first part of XVIII c. France doesn't have own history and live only as Classical country, but during the Terror, it demolished all its heritage and massacred thousands of people. For what? For the Liberty? But..... "Liberty is a bitch who must be bedded on...

United Kingdom on Aug 23, 2021

L. Burgoyne: Why four stars? It has been long recognised as a classic and I am surprised to see it weakly reviewed on Amazon. It rates its four stars.
It is now old, (1989 I think) but it was written by an extremely young historian who has since become almost disgustingly successful. So If you want to know how “success is done” in literature and the media you would be very well advised to read it as a starter. But DON’T treat it like a worthy text book. It is meant to read very swiftly, and you would be advised to do this. It is also rather long, and a fast read is a good way to take it all in.
Why should a young person read this? Because this is the way history should be presented to the layman and it should be read at great pace. Don’t pore over this book, shamelessly burn your way through it at a far higher pace than you would read a text book on the French revolution. If you are doing a history-course for grades, you can go back to pick-and-choose later.
What was the high point for me? Definitely it was the messy death of Robespierre. I rather enjoy disgustingly sanctimonious murderers getting their well-deserved end. Yucky but satisfying.
What character stood out? For...

United States on Nov 02, 2018

William J. Bahr: If you're writing a book involving the French Revolution (as I did about the Bastille key Lafayette gave to George Washington) or just intensely interested in the political history of liberty, you'll not want to miss reading this book. Immense in scope at almost a thousand pages, it introduces many interesting aspects of the French Revolution I hadn't found elsewhere. Given the wide coverage of the book, I'll have to forgive the author the few minor instances where his facts are not 100% right or he turns to areas not exactly "page-turning." Still, this encyclopedic book serves as a starting point for those wishing to pursue scholarship of the numerous details of this momentous event in human history. Time and again, it is referenced in subsequent works on the subject, and it may not be too far off to call it the "Bible of the French Revolution." Very well done!

Check out one of William J. Bahr’s books:  George Washington's Liberty Key: Mount Vernon's Bastille Key – the Mystery and Magic of Its Body, Mind, and Soul , a best seller at Mount Vernon.

United States on Nov 05, 2017

Marc Ranger: This is a hard book to review. On the one hand, there is much to learn from the pages of "Citizens". The author is obviously highly knowledgeable about the French Revolution, so much so in fact that he too often spend 15 or 20 pages to decorticate an event or a social fact that could have been easily explained in a single paragraph.

On the other hand, important events, like the trial of Louis XVI, the trial of Danton or the demise of Robespierre are far too rapidly viewed and leave the reader with a desagreable sense of something important left unsaid or overlooked. Also, more so from the first 400 pages, you'll find almost a word in each pages you'll see for the first time in your life. I didn't mind the scholarly and rather dry style of the author, so long as I could learn something useful from it. Thankfully, as soon as the Estate General began, the writing style became more fluid and entertaining.

That being said, those French were a sick lot of people. Robespierre, Marat (the so-called "Friend of the People"), Hébert and so on were so thristy for blood that they didn't care who would get his head severed, as long as heads were being severed. When the supply of...

Canada on Feb 02, 2014

David Poyser: Why read fiction when factual stories are so amazing? This is a major book by an academic but it works well both for a knowledgeable curious reader and someone keen to learn about the amazing events in France between 1789 and 1793. Schama knows how to tell a tale (an overly academic `historiographical' approach could ruin this story) . In the same way that you would say goodbye at the end of a good novel, you miss this massive book when you finish it.
It's certainly not a perfect book - but the events described here are so intriguing as to be almost unparalleled. Later Schama books show less concern for his academic colleagues tut-tutting - in this one, you can feel him wanting to ignore the needs of the `I have to do this for school' readers (the ones who only care about ticking boxes on the current consensus view of the French Revolution) but not quite having the courage. If it is interesting and intriguing, tell us Simon - ignore the consensus of your colleagues - and if you think it is pretty irrelevant, just mention it en passant without feeling the need to say you why you think it is irrelevant.
Schama possesses the gift of the (written) gab - he can write and tell a...

United Kingdom on Nov 25, 2013

Steven M Hug: A huge quantity of research must have been done for this book. This book and Henry Kissinger's books offer excellent opportunity for the reader to improve vocabulary. Schama's writing lacks beauty, as found in, for example, the Iliad and parts of the Bible. But his use of mild cynicism makes for interesting reading. I had to read some sentences twice or more, given that often long qualifiers are inserted mid sentence, and given that his run-on style includes liberal use of complexity.

An easier book to read, because it uses a common writing style, is Christopher Hibbert's The Days of The French Revolution. Hibbert's book also provides more detail and a more comprehensible explanation of many facts, including a good description of the political storm surrounding the condemnation to the guillotine of the Revolutions leaders such as the Girondins, Desmoulins, Danton, St Just, and Rosbespierre. Hibbert's book, unlike Schama's, provides the reasons why Fouquier-Tinville was depicted (accurately) as a horrendous villan in Baroness Orczy's wonderful book and play, The Scharlet Pimpernel.

A few things apparent are: (1) The Revolution was driven by fear and terror, and (2)...

United States on Jul 20, 2012