5th Edition

A History of Modern France

By Jeremy D. Popkin Copyright 2020
    414 Pages 27 B/W Illustrations
    by Routledge

    414 Pages 27 B/W Illustrations
    by Routledge

    A History of Modern France offers a framework to understand modern French history through a survey of the dramatic events that have punctuated its history from the eighteenth century to the present day.

    Covering events such as the French Revolution, the two World Wars and the more recent election of Emmanuel Macron and the "yellow vest" movement, the book takes a balanced approach to the competing interpretations of modern France inspired by its history. This edition has been thoroughly updated to incorporate the most recent scholarship on topics including French imperial history and the empire’s postcolonial legacy, the history of women and gender, and the French experience of World War I. A new section extends the narrative into mid-2019, and additional emphasis has been given to the role of historical memory in the making of French identity. Taking a chronological approach, the book is approachable for students and provides a clear and understandable picture of the history of modern France.

    Supported by further reading that has been updated to include the most recent publications, the book is the ideal introduction to the history of modern France for students of this fascinating country.

    List of Figures

    List of Maps

    Preface

    Acknowledgments

    1 "The Oldest Nation of Europe"

    2 Eighteenth-Century French Society and Economy

    3 Culture and Thought in Eighteenth-Century France

    4 Government under Challenge

    5 Collapse of the Old Monarchy

    6 Successes and Failures of the Liberal Revolution

    7 The Radical Revolution

    8 The Return to Order

    9 The Napoleonic Years

    10 The Restoration

    11 The July Monarchy and Its Critics

    12 A New Social World

    13 The Revolution of 1848: The Crisis of Bourgeois Society

    14 The Second Empire’s Decade of Prosperity

    15 The Second Empire in Difficulties

    16 The Paris Commune and the Origins of the Third Republic 

    17 The Republicans in Power

    18 Economic Depression and Political Crises

    19 The Dreyfus Affair and the Bloc Républican

    20 Culture and Society at the Fin De Siècle

    21 The Belle Époque

    22 The Plunge into War

    23 Crisis, Victory, and Disillusionment

    24 France between the Wars

    25 The Illusion of Normality

    26 From the Popular Front to the War

    27 France in the Second World War

    28 The Road to Liberation

    29 The Revival of the Parliamentary Republic

    30 From the Fourth to the Fifth Republic

    31 Politics and Economy in De Gaulle’s Republic

    32 Society and Culture during the "Thirty Glorious Years"

    33 May 1968 and the End of the Gaullist Era

    34 The Mitterrand Years

    35 France Enters a New Millennium

    36 A New Age of Instability

    Appendix: For Further Reading

    Index

    Biography

    Jeremy D. Popkin is the William T. Bryan Chair of History at the University of Kentucky (Lexington, Kentucky, USA). In addition to his new comprehensive history, A New World Begins: The Story of the French Revolution, he has published Revolutionary News: The Press in France, 1789–1799; You Are All Free: The Haitian Revolution and the Abolition of Slavery; and A Short History of the French Revolution.