The French Revolution

George Rudé
Rather a lot has been written about the French Revolution, and it is
still one of the more controversial events of modern history. So Rudé's
inclusion of a brief historiographical outline in his work is particularly
welcome; he takes a fairly "orthodox" approach himself, but he
discusses alternative viewpoints and makes it clear where he is coming
from. The core of The French Revolution is a fairly straightforward
narrative account, starting around 1775 and going through to 1815,
which covers social and economic changes as well as the more
dramatic political and military events. The big questions are not
avoided; the book opens with a section titled "Why Was There a
Revolution in France?" and the closing chapters discuss the effects of
the Revolution on Europe and the world and the history of the
Revolutionary tradition within France. The French Revolution is a fun
read, and easily the most accessible of the scholarly works on the
Revolution I have read.