Liberty or Death: The French Revolution

A strikingly new account of the impact of the French Revolution in Paris across the French countryside and around the globe The French Revolution has fascinated perplexed and inspired for more than two centuries. It was a seismic event that radically transformed France and launched shock waves across the world. In this provocative new history Peter McPhee draws on a lifetimes study of eighteenth-century France and Europe to create an entirely fresh account of the worlds first great modern revolutionits origins drama complexity and significance. Was the Revolution a major turning point in Frencheven worldhistory or was it instead a protracted period of violent upheaval and warfare that wrecked millions of lives? McPhee evaluates the Revolution within a genuinely global context: Europe the Atlantic region and even farther. He acknowledges the key revolutionary events that unfolded in Paris yet also uncovers the varying experiences of French citizens outside the gates of the city: the provincial men and women whose daily lives were alteredor notby developments in the capital. Enhanced with evocative stories of those who struggled to cope in unpredictable times McPhees deeply researched book investigates the changing personal social and cultural world of the eighteenth century. His startling conclusions redefine and illuminate both the experience and the legacy of Frances transformative age of revolution.