Citizens: A Chronicle of the French Revolution

Schama believes that the Revolution ended with the end of the Terror. This is simply not true and a marker for the sort of angle he has taken on the matter. Whilst undeniably well written, Schama offers little or no explanation for why events took place. How he manages to get away with this is a miracle, given the wealth of debate on the matter. Engaging primary anecdotes aside, that do indeed 'bring characters to life', there is little here of worth.

Anger an historian you know by gushing about how you love his lyrical prose, but don't use this to write an essay. There are works which go much deeper in markedly fewer pages.

I'm no historian but..... (1/7 people found this helpful)

.......I really enjoyed this book. I didn't know anything about the French revolution either and feel I have a much better undestanding - although in no great detail.
If you like your reading a bit more serious and factual every now and again this should be a sreious contender for your next read. Just don't get annoyed by some of the awful and often repeated grammatical errors.

Not a holiday read... (3/17 people found this helpful)

I'm an avid devourer of history when on vacation, and bought Schama's Citizens looking forward to a book along the lines of Beevor's excellent Stalingrad or Johnson's History of the American People. I would not say I was disappointed - Schama takes an iconoclastic and interesting line on the various phases of the revolution - but this is not an easy read, not is it unputdownable. I'm sure those factors were not top of Schama's list (!) but buy it if you want a serious and readable version of the events of 1795-1803, but don't expect to be gripped by it. One minor gripe - does not cover Napoleon at all!

It must have been terrible being Marie Antoinette (32/58 people found this helpful)

That, at least, seems to be what Simon Schama wanted you to think after reading this book -- which of course is fifteen years old now, a fact not mentioned in the sneaky reissue. There is no doubt that it is a tour de force of narrative writing, but let's not forget that narrative means 'story-telling', and all Schama can do here is tell ONE story about the Revolution. It's a story made up of blood-curdling violence that never seems to happen for a reason -- indeed any sense that there might have been reasons for it is submerged in splendidly-composed but morally-vacuous tales of elite sufferings. Schama really does not seem to care about the truly stunning social inequalities that disfigured France before 1789, and is content to blame those who tried to change things, while scarcely ever bothering to mention the civil war unleashed by the aristocrats who wanted to keep the population in servitude. Schama wrote this book to play up to a certain, particularly American, romanticised sentimentality about guillotined aristocrats. Given their own revolutionary history, Americans should know better. Read this if you must, it's an enjoyable romp, but don't kid yourself that you're learning why the French Revolution REALLY happened.

A Tremendous Performance (53/56 people found this helpful)

Citizens is a truly wonderful example of narrative historical writing - a "tremendous performance", to borrow a favourite expression of Simon Schama. The author prefers a more old-fashioned interpretation of the French revolution, which presents the revolution as a drama and focuses on the characters that determine the unravelling of the plot. This choice provides the book with the memorable stories, such as the royal family's comically feckless flight from Paris in 1791, that make it such a delightful read. It is a liberating experience to find a general historical survey that does away with the conventional, stultifying analytical distinctions between economic, social and political factors. Instead, the reader can interact directly - as well as chronologically, which makes it easy to dip in and out of - with the actors and the events without having to navigate around tedious discussions of causal significance or complex arguments with other historians.

But it is the skill with which Schama recounts events like the fall of the Bastille that makes this book unique and easily the most enjoyable modern history of the revolution in English. The embellishing vocabulary (readers are advised to have a dictionary to hand), the recurring motifs (the revolutionary obsession with heads, whether on pikes or as busts) and the vivid build-up of tension are the true strengths of this so-called chronicle. It is perfect for the novice reader and the enlightened amateur alike. Citizens demands re-reading for the richness of its description to be fully appreciated, especially its masterful reconstruction of the fascinating and sometimes disturbing culture of the old regime, which is probably the most accessible that exists. The only disappointment is that it ends with Thermidor, in 1794. After 800 pages, one is still hoping for more, which is the highest recommendation possible for this genre of historical writing.

Citizens: A Chronicle of the French Revolution

Simon Schama

Reader Reviews:

Lacking (0/0 people found this helpful)

I'm no historian but..... (1/7 people found this helpful)

Not a holiday read... (3/17 people found this helpful)

It must have been terrible being Marie Antoinette (32/58 people found this helpful)

A Tremendous Performance (53/56 people found this helpful)

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