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Title: Misses the Big Picture, Concentrates on the Details
Review: "Understanding the French Revolution" assumed that the reader already knew all about the French Revolution.Names and events were introduced without explanations; competing factions were referred to but not defined until many chapters later. Idiosyncrasies, such as calendar revisions, were not explained. For the novice like me, it meant piecing things together and hoping I got most of the pieces.The revolution was led by financial, mercantile, and manufacturing enterprises that wanted power commensurate with their wealth. This book mentions the "leading role" of the "big bourgeoisie;" however, it was entirely devoted to conflicts between various factions of the petty bourgeoisie.This book does present most of the relevant facts about the revolution, but the book is poorly organized and lacks a unifying theme. It is not easy reading.
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