France Since the Revolution: Texts and Contexts

France since the Revolution: Texts and Contexts introduces students to modern France by exploring the emergence and development of France's five Republics and the values and ideals of French republicanism. Starting with the events of the French Revolution of 1789, each of the chapters in the book focuses on a 'flashpoint' in French history: the Revolution of 1848, the Paris Commune of 1870, the Dreyfus affair of the 1890s, the First and Second World Wars, the Brazzaville conference of 1944, May 1968 and the campaign for political parity for women in the 1990s. Written by specialists from a range of disciplines, including history, cultural studies, politics and French area studies, these chapters address a series of 'contexts', providing an overview of events and a critical interpretation of how such upheavals have affected the history of France's republics. Questions of gender, race and class are pivotal to such analyses. Complementing this emphasis on 'contexts' are a number of 'texts', available in French and English, that give a flavour of how individual French men and women experienced their times. As an introductory book for undergraduates, France since the Revolution does not assume extensive previous knowledge and contains a complete glossary of the key names used in chapters, as well as a time line for reference and suggestions for further reading. An important resource for students and teachers alike, this accessible book gives its readers a firm base in nineteenth- and twentieth-century French history and culture from which to develop more specialized interests.