Mourning Glory: The Will of the French Revolution (Critical Authors and Issues)

Excellent book, exploring "will" both in the sense of intent, and of legacy.Part One concerns the revolutionary intentions and ideology, (and thusly the legacy its many participants wished to leave their heirs.)Part Two concerns those legacies, their power through history, and the shaping and distortion of perspectives, influenced as ever by cultural climates and personal biases.To quote the introduction - "the same paradoxes that tore apart the revolutionary ideal also divided its heirs apparent.More ideology and historiography than an account, his book gives a sane and fascinating insight into its specific target.

I very, very much enjoyed Huet's essays on the ideas and the course of the French Revolution from Rousseau through Robespierre and Saint Just to modern interpretations. The book's structure makes sense and Huet's style is always geared toward the readable. Mourning Glory's focus is on the relationships between forces, between nature and law, between the present and the past, between the throne and the people and how the "will" (the intent, the resolve) of the revolution evolved from an ideal of liberty and happiness to the desperate measures of desperate men and finally to the legacy. An amazing book.