History 539: Britain and France in the Eighteenth Century

Linda Colley and David Bell

Fall, 2012

1. September 18 Introduction.

2. September 25. Myths of Identity.

Linda Colley, Britons, Introduction and chapters 1-3 (pp. 1-146).

Gerald Newman, The Rise of English Nationalism, chapters 1-2 (pp. 1-48).

Colin Kidd, British identities before nationalism, part II (pp. 75-184).

David Bell, The Cult of the Nation in France, pp. 1-49, 140-218.

William Sewell, "The French Revolution and the Emergence of the Nation Form," in

Michael Morrison and Melinda Zook eds., Revolutionary Currents (2004), pp.

91-125.

3. October 2. Regimes.

Linda Colley, Britons, chapters 4-5, 8 (pp. 147-236, 321-363).

John Brewer, The Sinews of Power, parts I-II (pp. 1-134).

Michael Kwass, Privilege and the Politics of Taxation, pp. 1-20, 103-116, 311-323.

Edmond Dziembowski, “The English Political Model in Eighteenth-Century France,”

Historical Research, vol. 74, no. 184 (2001), pp. 151–171.

Gail Bossenga, “The Financial Origins of the French Revolution,” in Thomas Kaiser

and Dale Van Kley, From Deficit to Deluge (2011), pp. 37-66.

William Beik, Absolutism and Society in Seventeenth-Century France (1985), pp.

3-33, 223-339.

4. October 9. Economies.

Patrick O'Brien and Caglar Keyder, Economic Growth in Britain and France (1978),

pp. TBA.

Joel Mokyr, The enlightened economy, Introduction, chapters 1-3, 5-6.

George Taylor, “Non-Capitalist Wealth and the Origins of the French Revolution,”

American Historical Review, vol. 72 (1967), pp. 469-96.

Pierre Goubert, “The French Peasantry of the Seventeenth Century: A Regional

Example,” Past and Present, no. 10 (1956), pp. 55-77.

Jeff Horn, “Avoiding Revolution: The French Path to Industrialization,” in Horn,

Rosenband and Smith, eds., Reconceptualizing the Industrial Revolution

(2010), pp. 87-106.

Wiiliam Sewell, “The Empire of Fashion and the Rise of Capitalism in Eighteenth-

Century France,” Past and Present, no. 206 (2010), pp. 81-120.

[Optional: Debate between Sewell and Michael Sonenscher in Past and Present, no.

216, August 2012]

5. October 16. Civilian and Military Elites.

David Bell, The First Total War (2007), pp. 1-51.

J.V.Beckett, The aristocracy in England, pp. TBA.

Paul Langford, Public Life and the Propertied Englishman, chapters 1, 3, 6 (pp. 1-70,

139-206, 367-436).

Jay Smith, The Culture of Merit (1996), pp. 1-10, 227-274.

Gail Bossenga, “A Divided Nobility: Status, Markets and the Patrimonial State in

The Old Regime,” in Jay M. Smith, ed., The French Nobility in the Eighteenth

Century (2006), pp. 43-75

6. October 23. Middle Class and Bourgeoisie.

Dror Wahrman, Imagining the Middle Class, chs. 1-2, 7-8 (pp. 19-73, 221-288).

N.McKendrick et al, The birth of a consumer society, pp. TBA

Sarah Maza, The Myth of the French Bourgeoisie, pp. 1-68.

Lawrence Klein, “Politeness and the Interpretation of the British Eighteenth

Century,” Historical Journal, vol. 45, no. 4 (2000), pp. 869-98.

Colin Lucas, “Nobles, Bourgeois and the Origins of the French Revolution,” Past

And Present, no. 57 (1972), pp. 97-122.

Colin Jones, “Bourgeois Revolution Revivified,” in Colin Lucas, ed., Rewriting the

French Revolution (1990), pp. 69-118.

Michael Kwass, “Ordering the World of Goods: Consumer Revolution and the

Classification of Objects in Eighteenth-Century France,” Representations, no.

82 (2003), pp. 87-116.

7. November 6 . The Poor and Popular Protest.

Edward Thompson, Customs in Common, Introduction, chapters 2, 4, 6.

Tim Hitchcock, Down and out in 18thC London, pp. TBA.

Olwen Hufton, The Poor of Eighteenth-Century France (1970), pp. 1-106.

Robert Darnton, “Peasants Tell Tales” and “The Great Cat Massacre,” in The Great

Cat Massacre (1984), pp. 9-65, 75-101.

Roger Chartier, “Texts, Symbols and Frenchness,” in Cultural History (1988),

pp. 95-111.

Arlette Farge and Jacques Revel, The Vanishing Children of Paris (120 pp. ).

8. November 13. Empires and their Cities.

Kenneth Banks, Chasing Empire Across the Sea: Communications and the State in the

French Atlantic World (2003), pp. 3-64, 184-222.

Paul Cheney, Revolutionary Commerce: Globalization and the French Monarchy

(2010), pp. 1-51, 168-94.

David Hancock, Citizens of the world, parts I-II (pp. 25-278).

Celina Fox, London: World City, essays by Daunton, Saint, Jenkins.

Richard Drayton, “The Globalisation of France: Provincial Cities and French

Expansion,” History of European Ideas, vol. 34(2008), pp. 424-430.

Lynn Hunt, “The French Revolution in Global Context,” in David Armitage and Sanjay

Subrahmanyan, eds., The Age of Revolutions in Global Context, c. 1760-1840

(2010), pp. 20-36.

E. A. Wrigley, “A Simple Model of London’s Importance,” Past and Present, no. 37

(1967), pp. 44-70.

9. November 20. Religion and Enlightenment.

Dale Van Kley, The Religious Origins of the French Revolution, pp. 1-14, 191-248.

Dan Edelstein, The Enlightenment: A Genealogy, pp. 1-98.

Roy Porter, Enlightenment: Britain and the Creation of the Modern World,

Introduction, chapters 1-5.

Margaret Jacob, The Radical Enlightenment, chapters 2-4, 7 (pp. 36-111, 183-222).

Jonathan Israel, A Revolution of the Mind (2009) , pp. 1-36, 154-240.

David A. Bell, “Where Do We Come From?” The New Republic, Feb. 8, 2012.

10. November 27. Gender and the Public Sphere.

Dena Goodman, Becoming a Woman in the Age of Letters, pp. 1-18, 247-273, 332-9.

Elizabeth Eger (ed.), Women, writing and the public sphere, part II (pp. 75-162).

Elaine Chalus, Elite Women in English Political Life, Introduction, chapters 1-2, 5

(pp. 1-74, 157-171).

Amanda Vickery, “Golden Age to Separate Spheres,” The Historical Journal, vol. 36

(1993), pp. 383-414.

Lynn Hunt, “The Many Bodies of Marie-Antoinette,” in Gary Kates (ed.), The French

Revolution (1998), pp. 279-301.

Carla Hesse, The Other Enlightenment (2001), pp. 31-78.

11. December 4. The Age of Revolutions: Political Arguments.

Dan Edelstein, The Terror of Natural Right, pp. 1-50, 101-256.

Keith Baker, Inventing the French Revolution, pp. 1-31, 109-27, 167-223.

Patrice Higonnet, “Terror, Trauma and the ‘Young Marx’ Explanation of Jacobin

Politics, Past and Present, no. 191 (2006), pp. 121-164.

Primary Sources: Either Burke, Reflections on the Revolution, or Paine, Rights of Man.

12. December 11. The Age of Revolutions: Struggles.

Laurent Dubois, A Colony of Citizens, pp. 1-29, 155-248.

Albert Soboul, The Sans-Culottes, pp. 1-24, 47-134, 164-179.

E.P. Thompson, Making of the English Working Class, preface and part I (pp. 9-188).

David A. Bell, The First Total War, pp. 154-85.

Marianne Elliott, Partners in Revolution, pp. TBA.

Course Requirements

The principal requirement for the course is a 25-30 page paper, due on Friday, January 26. The paper can either be a research paper, or a bibliographical essay that examines the “state of play” of the historiography on a particular topic. In either case, the paper should have a comparative or transnational dimension, involving both France and Britain, and students should consult with the instructors before beginning their work.

Each week, one student will be responsible for composing four or five critical questions on the week’s reading, and posting them on the course Blackboard site by Monday evening at 7:00 p.m., All students in the course should have read these questions before class, and come in prepared to discuss them.

Finally, each week, one student will be responsible for a short (15 min.) presentation on a one or two primary sources related to the week’s reading. These sources will be chosen in consultation with the instructors.