A Short History of the French Revolution

This work is brief yet provide an excellent overview of the French Revolution. An excellent starting point for anyone who wants to understand what happened in France during these turbulent years.

Popkin's 3rd edition has the virtue of brevity. He concisely lays out the main reasons for the French Revolution, and the events that then unfolded. The book includes the seminal Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen from 1789. One of the key documents of human history. American readers might note some possible influences of the American Declaration of Independence. However, unlike the American Revolution and its aftermath, the story in this book is far bloodier. We see the Thermidor - the Terror, and how the French revolutionaries turned on each other, with losers bundled off to the guillotine. And with the ascent of Napoleon as military dictator.