Citizens: A Chronicle of the French Revolution

Instead of the dying Old Regime, Schama presents an ebullient country, vital and inventive, infatuated with novelty and technology--a strikingly fresh view of Louis XVI's France.

Preface

PROLOGUE: Powers of Recall

PART ONE - Alterations: The France of Louis XVI

Chapter 1 - New Men

I. FATHERS AND SONS

II. HEROES FOR THE TIMES

Chapter 2 - Blue Horizons, Red Ink

I. LES BEAUX JOURS

II. OCEANS OF DEBT

III. MONEY FARMS AND SALT WARS

IV. LAST BEST HOPES: THE COACHMAN

V. LAST BEST HOPES: THE BANKER

Chapter 3 - Absolutism Attacked

I. THE ADVENTURES OF M. GUILLAUME

II. SOVEREIGNTY REDEFINED: THE CHALLENGE OF THE PARLEMENTS

III. NOBLESSE OBLIGE?

Chapter 4 - The Cultural Construction of a Citizen

I. COLLECTING AN AUDIENCE

II. CASTING ROLES: CHILDREN OF NATURE

III. PROJECTING THE VOICE: THE ECHO OF ANTIQUITY

IV. SPREADING THE WORD

Chapter 5 - The Costs of Modernity

I. HOW NEW WAS THE OLD REGIME?

II. VISIONS OF THE FUTURE

PART TWO - Expectations

Chapter 6 - Body Politics

I. UTERINE FURIES AND DYNASTIC OBSTRUCTIONS

II. CALONNE’S PORTRAIT

III. NOTABLE EXCEPTIONS

Chapter 7 - Suicides, 1787–1788

I. THE REVOLUTION NEXT DOOR

II. THE LAST GOVERNMENT OF THE OLD REGIME

III. THE SWAN SONG OF THE PARLEMENTS

IV. THE DAY OF TILES

V. END GAMES

Chapter 8 - Grievances, Autumn 1788–Spring 1789

I. 1788, NOT 1688

II. THE GREAT DIVIDE, AUGUST – DECEMBER 1788

III. HUNGER AND ANGER

IV. DEAD RABBITS, TORN WALLPAPER; MARCH – APRIL 1789

Chapter 9 - Improvising a Nation

I. TWO KINDS OF PATRIOT

I. NOVUS RERUM NASCITUR ORDO, MAY – JUNE 1789

I. TABLEAUX VIV ANTS, JUNE 1789

Chapter 10 - Bastille, July 1789

I. TWO KINDS OF PALACE

II. SPECTACLES: THE BATTLE FOR PARIS JULY, 12–13, 1789

III. BURIED ALIVE? MYTHS AND REALITIES IN THE BASTILLE

IV. THE MAN WHO LOVED RATS

V. THE FOURTEENTH OF JULY 1789

VI. THE AFTERLIFE OF THE BASTILLE: PATRIOTE PALLOY AND THE NEW GOSPEL

VII. PARIS, KING OF THE FRENCH

PART THREE - Choices

Chapter 11 - Reason and Unreason, July–November 1789

I. PHANTOMS, JULY – AUGUST

II. POWERS OF PERSUASION, JULY – SEPTEMBER

III. THE QUARREL OF WOMEN, OCTOBER 5–6

Chapter 12 - Acts of Faith, October 1789–July 1790

I. LIVING HISTORY

II. APOSTASY

III. ACTING CITIZENS

IV. SACRED SPACES

Chapter 13 - Departures, August 1790–July 1791

I. MAGNITUDES OF CHANGE

II. THE INCONTINENCE OF POLEMICS

III. MIRABEAU PAYS HIS DEBTS

IV. RITES OF PASSAGE

Chapter 14 - “Marseillaise,” September 1791– August 1792

I. FINISHED BUSINESS?

II. CRUSADERS

III. “MARSEILLAISE”

Chapter 15 - Impure Blood, August 1792– January 1793

I. A “HOLOCAUST FOR LIBERTY”

II. GOETHE AT VALMY

III. “ONE CANNOT REIGN INNOCENTLY”

IV. TRIAL

V. TWO DEATHS

PART FOUR - Virtue and Death

Chapter 16 - Enemies of the People? Winter– Spring 1793

I. STRAITENED CIRCUMSTANCES

II. SACRED HEARTS: THE RISING IN THE VENDEE

III. “PALTRY MERCHANDISE,” MARCH – JUNE

IV. SATURN AND HIS CHILDREN

Chapter 17 - “Terror Is the Order of the Day,” June 1793–Frimaire An II (December 1793)

I. BLOOD OF THE MARTYR

II. “TERROR IS THE ORDER OF THE DAY”

III. OBLITERATIONS

Chapter 18 - The Politics of Turpitude

I. SHE-WOLVES AND OTHER DANGERS

II. THE END OF INDULGENCE

Chapter 19 - Chiliasm, April–July 1794

I. DEATH OF A FAMILY

II. THE SCHOOL OF VIRTUE

III. THERMIDOR

EPILOGUE

Reunions

Sources and Bibliography