From Deficit to Deluge: The Origins of the French Revolution

From Deficit to Deluge: The Origins of the French Revolution Review

From Deficit to Deluge takes stock of shifts in scholarly investigation of the origins of French Revolution. During the last decade, scholars have moved beyond "revisionist" historians of the 1970s, who highlighted the monarchy's degeneration into despotism, to explore related conflicts in the realms of finance, social relations, religion, diplomacy, the Enlightenment, and colonial policy. In this book, seven established authorities explore some of these critical intersections, and together they make clear the role that unresolved tensions in these realms played in the essentially political narrative told by post-Marxian revisionist historiography.

While each chapter of From Deficit to Deluge focuses upon one site of contention—fiscal, social, religious, diplomatic, ideological, and colonial—they all help to explain how long-standing structural problems of the Old Regime caused a fairly "normal" fiscal crisis to metastasize into a revolution. As the editors show in their introduction and conclusion, the growing democratization of politics sparked by the monarchy's clumsy efforts to solve the fiscal crisis put these wide-ranging problems at the epicenter of political debate, thereby sapping the foundations of royal authority and the social hierarchy.

The New Eighteenth-Century Style: Rediscovering a French Decor

The New Eighteenth-Century Style: Rediscovering a French Decor Review

Whoever said “Everything old is new again” could have been talking about French Pompadour Style. The flamboyant, opulent, refined aesthetic—so characteristic of the eighteenth century—has enjoyed a spectacular revival in recent years. In The New Eighteenth-Century Style, journalist Michèle Lalande and photographer Gilles Trillard, both experts in the field of interior décor, survey 30 examples of this quintessential blending of exquisite detail and ostentatious affluence. From lush velvet upholstery to the emblematic use of turquoise with gold accents, these perfectly captured interiors beguile the reader with well-worn extravagance. In an era of “shabby chic” the more refined, more pristine accents of Pompadour may be just what the world of interior décor needs—and this beautiful book provides an indispensable guide.

French Phonetics

French Phonetics Review

This enhanced edition of French Phonetics is intended for college-level instruction, for self-study and for reference purposes. The text, including Cahier d'Exercices, helps the student to become proficient in the pronunciation of French by explaining the characteristics of the French sound system clearly and systematically and by giving precise rules of pronunciation throughout. After introducing the learner to the International Phonetic Alphabet, the manual proceeds to a thorough examination of every sound in the French language in relation to its spelling and its phonological surroundings. If the book is used as a reference tool, the reader will be able to verify the pronunciation of many difficult verb forms and names not found in a dictionary. Students will be able to phonetically transcribe French words, to read a phonetically transcribed text, and most importantly to pronounce correctly any French word that they encounter, even if they have never seen it before. Cassettes or CD's for French Phonetics and the Cahier d'Exercices are available by contacting the author at Booth@up.edu; Please cc her alternate e-mail address in your request: trudie_booth@yahoo.com

The French Chef Cookbook

The French Chef Cookbook Review

All the recipes that Julia Child demonstrated on her first public television series, The French Chef -- the 119 shows that made Julia a household name and changed forever the way Americans cook.

Fodor's Provence & the French Riviera, 9th Edition (Full-Color Gold Guides)

Fodor's Provence & the French Riviera, 9th Edition (Full-Color Gold Guides) Review

PLAN your Perfect TRIP
Full-color guide • Make your trip to Provence and the French Riviera unforgettable with illustrated features, 24 maps, and 200 color photos.
Customize your trip with simple planning tools • Practical advice for getting around • Convenient overview of each region and its highlights • Easy-to-read color regional maps
Explore Avignon, Aix, the Riviera resorts, and beyond • Discerning Fodor’s Choice picks for hotels, restaurants, sights, and more • “Word of Mouth” tips from fellow Fodor’s travelers • Illustrated features on the Lavender Route, the Modern Art Road, and Provençal food and wine • Top town markets, best Riviera beaches, prettiest perched villages
Opinions from destination experts • Fodor’s Provence-based writers reveal their favorite local haunts • Frequently updated to provide the latest information

Learn French Through Fairy Tales Cinderella Level 1 (Foreign Language Through Fairy Tales) (Slangman Kids: Level 1)

Learn French Through Fairy Tales Cinderella Level 1 (Foreign Language Through Fairy Tales) (Slangman Kids: Level 1) Review

Each fairy tale starts in English, then slowly MORPHS INTO FRENCH

Begin with LEVEL 1! This book will teach your child 20+ new French words in a fun, fast, and truly easy way! Here s how it works...

* An English word in the fairy tale is circled with its French translation in the column.

* From that moment forward, the French word (written in red) will be used throughout the rest of the story... and it will be used again and again in context!

* As the fairy tale progresses, more and more French words are added like a big language train gathering words along the way.

* The new words are repeated throughout the story helping to reinforce understanding.

* By the end of the book, the child has easily learned 20+ new French words in context!

It's easy! And remember... each level uses words taught from previous levels...so you ll want to continue with the next levels. By the end of the last level, the fairy tale will be written almost entirely in French - and it will be easy to understand EVERYTHING!

****************************************** Included: Audio CD with narration, sound effects, & fully orchestrated original music
**Composed, arranged, and performed**
by Slangman David Burke!

A Short History of the French Revolution, 1789-1799

A Short History of the French Revolution, 1789-1799 Review

Albert Soboul has held the Chair of the History of the French Revolution at the Sorbone since 1967, and is probably the leading Marxist scholar working in that field today. The book translated here should be regarded more as a synopsis of Professor Soboul's interpretation of the Revolution than as a detailed account of the course of events; it is an essay in analysis rather than a narrative. In it the author argues that the French Revolution can only be understood in terms of class struggle, and that any attempt to diminish the significance of class conflict as its motive force obscures the meaning of the events of the Revolution and rends them ultimately incomprehensible.
The course of the Revolution and its final outcome, which was clear by the time Napoleon seized power in 1799, were the products of a complex class struggle enacted simultaneously on many levels, leading finally to the triumph of the bourgeoisie, the defeat of the aristocracy, and the fragmentation and collapse of the popular forces, who as the allies of the bourgeoisie had played a vital part in securing its victory.
Professor Soboul shows that although the Revolution was caused initially by specific factors peculiar to the structure of French society at the end of the Old Regime, it came to constitute the definitive type of the bourgeois revolution and opened the way for the ascendary of industrial capitalism in the next century, not merely in France, but in the rest of Europe and the world at large.