Schama (History/Harvard), author of Patriots and Liberators: Revolution in the Netherlands 1780-1813 and The Embarrassment of Riches: An Interpretation of Dutch Culture in the Golden Age, offers an epic new history of the French Revolution in honor of this year's bicentenary. Utilizing day-to-day accounts of people ordinary and not so ordinary, presenting them in the highly accessible manner of traditional narrative, Schama synthesizes many theories that have populated the historical writings about this era. Thematically, his most important contribution is in revealing French culture and society in the reign of Louis XVI to have been "troubled more by its addiction to change than resistance to it." Similarly, he contends that "much of the anger that fired revolutionary violence arose from the hostility towards modernization, rather than impatience with the speed of its progress." Thus, the "new class" that arose against the monarchy turns out to have been not new at all—but rather doctors, lawyers, noblemen, priests, and other professionals. In the end, Schama appears to have a closer affinity with Tocqueville than has been seen in a century. He chastises the Revolution as having actually been destructive of all the little triumphs of modernization that had been accumulating under the old regime ("Marseille and Lyon only recovered as the Revolution receded. . ."), and all for a cause that produced no great social transformations and which only relieved Frenchmen's extraordinary taxes as their military frontier expanded: "When that frontier suddenly retreated in 1814. . .they were stuck with the bill which, just as in 1789, they refused to pay, sealing the Empire's fate." As for advances of the rural poor, Schama argues that "the Revolution was just an interlude in the inexorable modernisation of property rights that had been well under way before 1789." Indeed, the major legacy of the Revolution, as he sees it, is a negative one: "the invention of a prodigious new kind of warrior state," as well as a ubiquitous violence that forever marked it in blood. In all, a refreshing vision narrated in a passionate style, without sacrifice of detail.
Pub Date: March 31, 1989
ISBN: 0679726101
Page Count: -
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 1989
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A finely detailed story of American presidents and their relationship to the world of espionage and intelligence. In this sweeping history of the American intelligence community, Andrew demonstrates how the idiosyncracies and experiences of individual leaders—from the exploits of George Washington as spy and spymaster during the Seven Years and Revolutionary wars to George Bush's serving as CIA director—shaped the nature and use of the intelligence services. For instance, the great respect Eisenhower gained for aerial intelligence before and during the D-Day invasions translated during his presidency into the creation of the world's best overhead reconnaissance service. On a stranger note, FDR was so taken with the idea that the Japanese were frightened by bats that he ordered his intelligence services to research the possibility of a surprise bat attack on Japan. Andrew (History/Cambridge Univ.; Her Majesty's Secret Service, 1986, etc.) shows that Americans were latecomers to the intelligence game; only in the first decade of the Cold War did the US become an intelligence superpower. Andrew clearly knows his way around the dark corridors of the history of espionage. He details the actions of the intelligence agencies in the most significant events of the 20th century, including the attack on Pearl Harbor, the planning for the disastrous Bay of Pigs invasion, and American preparations for the Gulf War. Andrew chides American presidents— by the late 20th century, the most informed leaders in the history of the world, he says—for taking their intelligence services for granted or expecting too much from them. He also warns those Americans who, given the fall of the Soviet Union, would cut the funding of the CIA, that in the postCold War period intelligence will be more important than ever. Andrew has a sharp sense of the importance and impact of intelligence and a flair for creating a colorful historical tapestry. (37 b&w photos, not seen)
Pub Date: Feb. 1, 1995
ISBN: 0-06-017037-9
Page Count: 672
Publisher: HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 1994
BOOK REVIEW
Drawing on the celebrated correspondence between Thomas Jefferson and James Madison about the newly adopted Constitution, Banning listens in on ``three of many conversations that occurred between two founders on matters of continuing concern.'' (See p. TKTK, The Republic of Letters, for the collected correspondence.) As US minister to France, Jefferson was absent from the US during the deliberations of the Constitutional Convention in 1787 and during the prolonged struggle in 1788 to ratify and establish the Constitution. However, Madison, Jefferson's friend and fellow Virginian, played a significant role during the convention. Banning (History/Univ. of Kentucky; The Jeffersonian Persuasion, not reviewed) shows that Jefferson objected to the lack of a declaration of essential rights in the Constitution, fearing that the newly powerful central government could develop into a despotic monster. Madison initially opposed adoption of such a declaration, arguing that, since the new federal government was one of limited powers, it was unnecessary to limit it with a declaration of rights—and that a bill of rights could prove dangerous in that it could be used to justify attempts to suppress rights not listed in the document. Of course, as Banning points out, Jefferson won that argument: On May 4, 1789, Madison announced in the House of Representatives that he would soon introduce a series of amendments to the infant Constitution. These amendments, which would become the Bill of Rights, were drafted and largely shepherded through the ratification process by Madison. Banning also presents the thoughts of the founders. Jefferson asserted that the public should not be burdened with debts of the previous generations, and even that legislatures should lack the power to bind future generations with indebtedness. Banning writes that what united the seemingly radical Jefferson and the more conservative Madison was a similar notion of ``public spirit,'' characterized by equal commitments to republican ideals and to democratic, majority decision making. A well-crafted work of history that not only gives insight into the lives and thought of the two men but also stimulates thought about the public institutions they helped to create.
Pub Date: Feb. 15, 1995
ISBN: 0-945612-42-7
Page Count: 256
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 1994
BOOK REVIEW
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