PLEASE NOTE THAT THIS COURSE DOES NOT USE CANVAS.
Sonoma State University Department of History
History 510: Historiography of the French Revolution Fall 2024
Monday evening 5:00 – 8:40 PM; Stevenson 1206
Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs: USZC4.12944
Instructor:
Mary Halavais: halavais@sonoma.edu .
Office: Stevenson 3708
Office hours: 5:30-7:00 pm Tues Thurs
Please make an appointment to talk to the prof during these hours.
Library Research Guides and Study Information
The University Library can help you find information and conduct research. Look here to see what other services the library offers.
SSU Learning and Academic Resources Center
(LARC) offers three academic support programs for students: Tutorial, Supplemental Instruction , and the Writing Center. Visit the LARC website for more information, or to volunteer.
Required Texts
These texts are available at the University bookstore. The ISBN should help you to locate them at other booksellers, whether online or brick and mortar.
Simon Schama. Citizens: A Chronicle of the French Revolution. New York: Penguin, 1989.
ISBN 9780679726104
Georges Lefebvre: The Coming of the French Revolution.
ISBN 9780691168463
R,R, Palmer. Twelve Who Ruled.
ISBN 9780691175928
William Doyle. Oxford History of the French Revolution. Oxford: OUP, 2018.
ISBN 9780198804932
Thomas Paine. Rights of Man.
ISBN 9781853264672
George Rudé. The Crowd in the French Revolution. Oxford: OUP, 1959.
ISBN 9780195003703
Alexis de Tocqueville. The Old Regime and the French Revolution.
ISBN 9780385092609
François Furet. Interpreting the French Revolution. Cambridge: Cambridge U., 1981
ISBN 9780521280495
Jules Michelet. History of the French Revolution.
ISBN 9780999428313
Edmund Burke. Reflections on the Revolution in France.
ISBN 9780199539024
Class Protocol
Please remember to treat your fellow students (and your professor!) with respect at all times. This means listening carefully and quietly to what each person has to say.
Your professor will try to speak clearly and slowly (which will be a challenge! Please tell me if I need to speak more slowly.) She asks that you do the same. If at any point you are uncomfortable with what is happening in class, please talk with the professor or someone else in the history department right away. We learn best in a comfortable environment!
Students with Special Needs
If you are a student with special learning needs, your first step is to register with the campus office of Services for Students with Disabilities, 707-664-2677. DSS will provide you with written confirmation of your verified disability, and will notify the instructor of recommended accommodations. Your instructor will discuss these recommended accommodations with you.
Other information
Fires, floods, earthquakes, and pandemics, while not likely, are always possible in California, and they may disrupt classes. We can make adjustments so that your progress in the class will not be affected adversely.
The French Revolution has been a topic of interest for moviemakers as well as historians. A number of films on this topic are on reserve at SSU library, for you to consider as another method of writing history.
SCHEDULE OF CLASSES/READING ASSIGNMENTS
The study of history often leads down unexpected and exciting paths. The schedule below is the expected list of topics and readings for each week. The prof may add any additional topics, links, or readings that we explore together in class each week. Any added material will first be mentioned in the class setting.
WEEK 1: AUGUST 26
TOPICS:
Introduction to the class. Topic; texts and contexts.
What IS historiography?
ASSIGNMENT – DUE SEPTEMBER 9
I. Lynn Hunt, “The World We have Gained: The Future of the French Revolution,” AHR Vol 108 N. 1, Feb 2003, 1-19
II. Burke, Reflections on the Revoution in France
1.Read Burke.
2. Be prepared to present a segment of Burke to the class:
Shelby – start to p 33, to “You will observe, that from Magna Carta to…”
Caitlin – pp 33 to 67, to “This, my dear Sir, was not the triumph of France.”
Kyle – pp 67 to 105, to “It is with the exaltation of a little national pride…”
Wren – pp 105 to 141, to “We do not draw the moral lessons we might from history…”
Jessica – pp141 t0 181, to “To compare together the three bases…”
Cole – pp 181 to 221, to “”How came the assembly by their present power over the army?”
Jake – pp 221-250, to end.
3. Submit a written precis of Burke’s essay to halavais@sonoma.ed, by 11:59 pm Sept 8.
WEEK 2: SEPTEMBER 2
LABOR DAY – CAMPUS CLOSED
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WEEK 3: SEPTEMBER 9
TOPICS:
1. Hunt, “The world we have gained.” (looking at the FR from the early 21st C)
2. Burke, Reflections on the Revoution in France.
& Reading in the 18th century and now; the question of human rights;
some background history for Britain and for France in our time period
READING ASSIGNMENT – DUE SEPTEMBER 16
Please be prepared to summarize your assigned sections of Wollstonecraft and Paine for all of us on Sept 16. You are required to do this – but you are encouraged to read as much of the document beyond your assignment as you can manage.
1. Wollstonecraft, A Vindication of the Rights of Woman
Please note – link is now to an easier to read online version!
Shelby – 28-50
Caitlin – 51-73
Kyle – 74-96
Wren – 97-119
Jessica -120-142
Cole – pp 143 – 165
Jake – pp 166 – 187
2. Paine, The Rights of Man.
Shelby – to “The streets of Paris, being narrow..”
Caitlin – from that point to “After these a race of conquerers arose…”
Kyle – from that point to ‘The French constitution has reformed…”
Wren – from that point to “As M. de la Fayette, from the eperience…”
Jessica – from that point to the MISCELLANEOUS CHAPTER
Cole – from that point to “whether the English form of government…”
Jake – from that point to FINIS
WRITTEN ASSIGNMENT – DUE TO HALAVAIS@SONOMA.EDU NOON SEPT 16
Please interrogate your sections of Wollstonecroaft and of Paine. What question of questions could you ask of this part of the text? What answers does the text provide?
___________________
WEEK 4: SEPTEMBER 16
TOPICS:
Wollstonecraft, A Vindication of the Rights of Woman
Paine, The Rights of Man.
READING ASSIGNMENT – DUE SEPTEMBER 23
Tocqueville. The Old Regime and the French Revolution, Part I
____________________
WEEK 5: SEPTEMBER 23
TOPICS:
Tocqueville. The Old Regime and the French Revolution, Part I
READING ASSIGNMENT – DUE SEPTEMBER 30
Tocqueville. The Old Regime and the French Revolution, Parts II and III
___________________
WEEK 6: SEPTEMBER 3O
TOPICS:
Tocqueville. The Old Regime and the French Revolution, Parts II and III
READING ASSIGNMENT – DUE OCTOBER 7
Michelet, History of the French Revolution
Please read your section of Michelet’s work.Be ready to tell us what question Michelet was asking himself as he wrote the section you are reading,
Book 1 – Wren, Kyle
Book 2 – jessica, Caitlin
Book 3 – Cole
Book 4 – Jake, Shelby
OPTIONAL READING
Now that you have read Tocqueville on the causes of the French Revolution, you might be interested in his thoughts on the revolution of 1848:
Recollections: The French Revolution of 1848 and its Aftermath
Part II, chapter 1 considers the causes of the fall of the July Monarchy.
____________________
WEEK 7: OCTOBER 7
TOPICS:
Michelet, History of the French Revolution
Truth and verifying facts in history
ASSIGNMENT – DUE OCTOBER 14
Now that you have read Michelet, perhaps we should compare him to other historians of the 19th C.
de Staël, Considerations on the Principal Events of the French Revolution
Thiers, The History of the French Revolution (begins on page 31)
Carlyle, The French Revolution
Taine, The French Revolution
Please choose any two of the four historians above, and for each, read one or two chapters .Then, please write a brief one-page essay comparing your two historians to Michelet. Pay attention to the style and tone of the writing, and to what each of your three historians stresses or gives importance to. Is anyone citing, or echoing, an earlier writer?
Submit your essay to halavais@sonoma.edu by noon on Monday, October 14.
__________________
WEEK 8: OCTOBER 14
TOPICS:
Writing the Revolution: comparing styles and approaches
What does writing history MEAN?
READING ASSIGNMENT – DUE OCTOBER 21
1. von Humboldt, “On the Historian’s Task”
2. Bentley, “Ranke, ” Modern Historiography: An Introduction
____________________
WEEK 9: OCTOBER 21
TOPICS:
Doing history; The Annales School
READING ASSIGNMENT – DUE OCTOBER 28
Lefebvre, ˆThe Coming of the French Revolution
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WEEK 10: OCTOBER 28
TOPICS:
Marxism and history? Lefebvre
READING ASSIGNMENT – DUE NOV 4
Furet, Interpreting the French Revolution
___________________
WEEK 11: November 4
TOPICS:
READING ASSIGNMENT – DUE NOVEMBER 18
Rudé, The Crowd in the French Revolution
___________________
WEEK 12: NOVEMBER 11
VETERANS DAY HOLIDAY – NO CLASS MEETING
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WEEK 13: NOVEMBER 18
TOPICS:
Rudé: The “crowd” and its importance;
The Terror
READING ASSSIGNMENT DUE NOVEMBER 25
Schama, Citizens: A Chronicle of the French Revolution
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WEEK 14: NOVEMBER 25
TOPICS:
a. Schama
Section 1 – Jake
Section 2 –
Section 3 – Cole
Section 4 – Jessica and Shelby
b. Presentations of your good book (please sign up for a date)
READING ASSIGNMENT DUE DEC 2
Doyle, Oxford History of the French Revolution
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WEEK 15: DECEMBER 2
TOPICS:
a. Doyle; teaching the French Revolution
b. Presentations of your good book (please sign up for a date)
READING ASSIGNMENT DUE DEC 9
WEEK 16: DECEMBER 9
FINAL EXAMINATION WEEK
Topic for final essay to be announced