The Old Regime and the Revolution
by Alexis de Tocqueville · L'Ancien Régime et la Révolution
Assigned by 1 of the 9 reading lists, catalogue entry only
- Written
- 1856
- Form
- History
- Language
- French
- Length
- Medium · 300 pp120 to 300 pages
- Difficulty
- Demanding3 of 5 for a first-year reader
We recommendThe Old Regime and the Revolution, translated by Alan S. KahanUniversity of Chicago Press, 1998The Furet and Melonio edition, which prints the finished volume with Tocqueville's notes and drafts for the sequel he did not live to write.
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Tocqueville's last book, written from the archives of the intendants, argues that the French Revolution completed work the monarchy had already begun. Centralisation, the destruction of local liberty, the reduction of the nobility to a caste with privileges but no function, the separation of classes and the growing equality of Frenchmen under a single administration were all in place before 1789. What the Revolution did was to sweep away the debris and finish the job, which is why the administrative state emerged from it stronger than before. Along the way he explains why the peasants who owned land resented the old taxes most, and why reform made revolt more likely.
No reading guide yet
The catalogue entry above is complete: the dates, the form, the themes and every program that assigns The Old Regime and the Revolution are verified against each program's published list.
What is missing is the part that takes real work: the summary, the key passages, and a recommended translation. The edition named below is the one most programs assign, so the buy links are useful already.
