The Past in French History (Paperback, New Paperback Ed)

In this fine and subtle book Gildea explores the part played by the past in French national consciousness and identity. Momentous events in the history of the nation such as the Revolution of 1789 have always cast a shadow over French life, alternatively celebrated or suppressed according to taste and times. Equally, Left and Right have appropriated national heroes such as Joan of Arc and Napoleon for their own purposes. This is a fascinating cultural history of modern France, but it also demonstrates how important the past is in shaping our self-perception and in providing images and icons with which we construct our views of the present and hopes for the future. (Kirkus UK)

This fascinating book examines how the past pervades French public life, how the French both commemorate their past triumphs, heroes, and martyrs and attempt to erase the more violent events in their history. The book surveys the ways that various political communities in France during the past two centuries have manufactured different versions of the past in order to define their identities and legitimate their goals. Beginning with a discussion of the bicentenary of the French Revolution in 1989, Robert Gildea moves backward in time to show how rival factions have used various elements of French political culture-from the grandeur of the ancien regime to Catholicism, Jacobinism, Anarchism, and Bonapartism-to further their ends. Gildea shows how proponents of revolution and counterrevolution, church and state, centralism and regionalism, and national identity and nationalism campaigned to achieve the widest possible acceptance of their own view of the past. He describes the continuing battle between Left and Right for association with national heroes such as Joan of Arc and Napoleon. He exposes the reworking of collective views of the past by political communities, in order to increase or recover political legitimacy. Written in clear and trenchant prose, the book offers a new perspective on French history and political culture.

General

Imprint:	Yale University Press
Country of origin:	United States
Release date:	April 1996
First published:	May 1996
Authors:	Robert Gildea
Dimensions:	235 x 156 x 23mm (L x W x T)
Format:	Paperback - Trade
Pages:	432
Edition:	New Paperback Ed
ISBN-13:	978-0-300-06711-8
Categories:	Books > Humanities > History > Theory & methods > General Books > Humanities > History > European history > General Books > History > European history > General Books > History > Theory & methods > General
LSN:	0-300-06711-9
Barcode:	9780300067118

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