France before 1789: The Unraveling of an Absolutist Regime

Before 1789, France was a complex society with a National Constituent Assembly of 1789 that was fueled by rural and urban conflicts. Jon Elster's book provides a new approach to history writing with the tools and insights of modern social science, drawing on scholarship and historical evidence. It is the first volume of a trilogy that will transform our understanding of constitution-making in the eighteenth century.

Format: Hardback
Length: 280 pages
Publication date: 16 June 2020
Publisher: Princeton University Press

France before 1789 is a groundbreaking new account of old regime France by one of the world's most prominent political philosophers. It traces the historical origins of France's National Constituent Assembly of 1789, providing a vivid portrait of the ancien régime and its complex social system in the decades before the French Revolution. Jon Elster writes in the spirit of Alexis de Tocqueville, who described this tumultuous era with an eye toward individual and group psychology and the functioning of institutions.

While Tocqueville saw the old regime as a breeding ground for revolution, Elster, more specifically, identifies the rural and urban conflicts that fueled the constitution-making process from 1789 to 1791. He presents a new approach to history writing, one that supplements the historian's craft with the tools and insights of modern social science. Elster draws on important French and Anglo-American scholarship as well as a treasure trove of historical evidence from the period, such as the Memoirs of Saint-Simon, the letters of Madame de Sévigné, the journals of the lawyer Barbier, the Remonstrances of Malesherbes, and La Bruyère's maxims.

Masterfully written and unparalleled in scope, France before 1789 is the first volume of a trilogy that promises to transform our understanding of constitution-making in the eighteenth century. Volume 2 will look at revolutionary America in the years leading up to the Constitutional Convention of 1787, while the third volume will examine all facets of the French and American assemblies, from how they elected their delegates and organized their proceedings to how they addressed issues of separation of powers

and representation.

Weight: 590g
Dimension: 164 x 251 x 30 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780691149813