Book Review The Republican Experiment, 1848-1852 Essay, Research Paper

Maurice Agulhon. The Republican Experiment, 1848-1852.

London and New York: Cambridge University Press. 1983.Pp195.

This books main objective was to describe how France was in the process of becoming a democratic Republic. The book gave a full evolution and fulfillment that France made by the first four years of its first trial run at becoming a democratic Republic. The book gave in detail from start to finish how France finally prevailed during the 18707 s. The Republic was reborn when the Second Empire had made itself impossible: too aggressive for the alarmed Europe of the time and too authoritarian for an awakened society.

The Second Republic was not completely credited simply to the combination of government which held power during those four years. The powers were attributable to the Republic that tried to succeed from February to June 1848 and then survive from June 1848 to January 1849, and were above all due to the ideal Republic defined and desired between 1949 and 1851 by the only true republicans of all the time, those who were in opposition.

The textbook as compared to the book chosen was alike in many aspects. Not only did the two books contain a lot of information but also the book compared very similarly with the classroom notes. Many of the ideas that were briefly discussed in class were given in much more detail in the book. The book information really did not differ in the views that were depicted in the textbook. Both sources were good detailed accounts of history during the republican era.

The importance and purpose of this book was to give the audience or the reader complete and detailed accounts of the French Revolution. The author s purpose was to tell from begging to end how the French went through many trials and failures before becoming a true form of democratic government.

However, the overall impact of these individual memories would not have been sufficiently strong had not literature evoked a collective memory. If the Republic was better know during the forties and able to win supporters from beyond the restricted circle of republican survivors and their immediate, this was the achievement of History. The History of the Revolution had come into being many years earlier, under the Restoration, during the period when those who rallied to the white flag were in power. Pg.3

This paragraph gives the authors purpose and the role of the historians and of the history described in the book. This is important because through this the authors main purpose for writing the book is based up on the history left by the works from the historians.