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Author Topic: Book on the French Revolution  (Read 1574 times)

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Offline Crayolcold

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Book on the French Revolution
« on: September 14, 2023, 08:16:37 AM »
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  • Looking for reading material regarding an overview of the French Revolution which discusses the event through a largely Catholic lens. I do not want to just buy any book where the modernist narrator/author will be sympathetic towards the initial causes of the Revolution ("enlightenment", etc.) only to condemn the inevitable consequences of the same. I would like a book that is critical of the excesses of the Revolution not only in its Terror but also in its "well-meaning" inception -- a book that is viewing the Revolution through a Catholic/monarchist lens.

    If anyone has any suggestions, please let me know!
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    Offline Soubirous

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    Re: Book on the French Revolution
    « Reply #1 on: September 14, 2023, 09:56:12 AM »
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  • Here's a start. All are free to read online.

    1) This is published by Catholic University of America (which may or may not give it a truly Catholic perspective): Aston, Nigel. Religion and Revolution in France, 1780-1804 (Catholic University of America Press, 2000).
    https://archive.org/details/religionrevoluti0000asto

    2) French historian Reynald Secher's 1986 A French Genocide: The Vendée, though it seems limited to the Vendee rather than the Revolution overall. 
    https://archive.org/details/afrenchgenocide.thevendeereynaldsecherv

    3) Here's a dissertation that's probably written in an attempt at academic neutrality, though we know there's no such thing. At the very least it can give you an overview of what arguments to look for that can be refuted from a traditional perspective, and a discussion of Gallicanism necessary for understanding the topic as a whole. Harmon, Joseph Peter. Nation and Church in the French Revolution. The Florida State University, 2021.
    https://diginole.lib.fsu.edu/islandora/object/fsu:803246/datastream/PDF/view

    Probably in general, some of the better works are still not translated, so if you can read French, that would be an advantage. If so, try the lists of sources provided at the end of each of the above.

    A caution: some contemporaneous writers of a more seemingly theocratic leaning might have written less from faith and more out of political-sociological interest. For this reason, authors such as Joseph de Maistre or Felicite de Lamennais might be useful more for historic context than for actual Church-centered analysis. 
    Let nothing disturb you, let nothing frighten you, all things pass away: God never changes. Patience obtains all things. He who has God finds he lacks nothing; God alone suffices. - St. Teresa of Jesus


    Offline Bonaventure

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    Re: Book on the French Revolution
    « Reply #2 on: September 14, 2023, 10:57:40 AM »
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  • That second book listed above looks interesting.  I've never been able to read a book via computer, but the cheapest I've been able to find a print edition of that book is $50.  :smirk:

    Offline Bonaventure

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    Re: Book on the French Revolution
    « Reply #3 on: September 14, 2023, 11:09:56 AM »
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  • Looking for reading material regarding an overview of the French Revolution which discusses the event through a largely Catholic lens. ...
    If anyone has any suggestions, please let me know!

    "The Guillotine and the Cross," by William Carroll, 1986: https://openlibrary.org/works/OL8708080W/The_Guillotine_and_the_Cross

    Offline Cera

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    Re: Book on the French Revolution
    « Reply #4 on: September 14, 2023, 05:37:27 PM »
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  • "The Guillotine and the Cross," by William Carroll, 1986: https://openlibrary.org/works/OL8708080W/The_Guillotine_and_the_Cross
    That's a good one.
    Also The French Revolution by Hilaire Belloc.
     

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    Offline Plenus Venter

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    Re: Book on the French Revolution
    « Reply #5 on: September 14, 2023, 06:19:47 PM »
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  • This is a good history of the Revolution, surprisingly the author was not Catholic:

    Read the reviews and also the author's wiki biography and you'll get the idea!

    Offline OABrownson1876

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    Re: Book on the French Revolution
    « Reply #6 on: September 15, 2023, 12:14:55 PM »
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  • Carlyle's French Revolution

    This is a good article by Brownson on the French Revolution.  Brownson felt that Carlyle's work on the French Revolution was the best. 
    Bryan Shepherd, M.A. Phil.
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    Louisville, Ky. 40217; email:letsgobryan@protonmail.com. substack: bryanshepherd.substack.com
    website: www.orestesbrownson.org. Rumble: rumble.com/user/Orestes76

    Offline Cera

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    Re: Book on the French Revolution
    « Reply #7 on: September 15, 2023, 05:50:38 PM »
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  • This is a good history of the Revolution, surprisingly the author was not Catholic:

    Read the reviews and also the author's wiki biography and you'll get the idea!
    Nesta Webster was waaay ahead of the curve.
    Pray for the consecration of Russia to the Immaculate Heart of Mary


    Offline SeanJohnson

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    Re: Book on the French Revolution
    « Reply #8 on: September 15, 2023, 05:57:39 PM »
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  • The undisputed, undefeated heavyweight champion of the world:

    “Memoirs Illustrating the History of Jacobinism” by Fr. Augustin Barruel.

    Throw everything else away.



    This wiki article wants to call into question some of the claims made herein, but the English philosopher Edmund Burke, a contemporary of Fr. Barruel, wrote a defense of the veracity of its claims.

    Also traces the root of the revolution to the incestuous Jew, Adam Weishaupt (founder of the Illuminati).

    Fr. Barruel first exposes the conspiracy against the altar, then the crown, then society (where we are now).
    Rom 5: 20 - "But where sin increased, grace abounded all the more."

    Offline SkyRoam

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    Re: Book on the French Revolution
    « Reply #9 on: September 15, 2023, 07:19:32 PM »
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  • I concur with Sean. Fr. Barruel's book is the one to read. It is a monster-sized book. "Best seller" when published at the time.

    Offline Crayolcold

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    Re: Book on the French Revolution
    « Reply #10 on: September 16, 2023, 07:17:52 PM »
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  • Thanks for all the suggestions, I bought and am currently reading through “The Guillotine and the Cros by Warren H. Carroll and can already say that I recommend it to anyone interested in this topic. 

    As for Sean’s recommendation, the physical copies of “Memoirs Illustrating the History of Jacobinism” by Fr. Augustin Barruel seem to be quite hard to come by. But if I can find a good, cheap printing I will definitely let everyone know. I would love to read through that next. 

    I did not know about the massacre of the Swiss guards and the Kings court in the Tuileries and throughout the streets of Paris. It’s difficult — after reading only the first chapter of Carroll’s book — not to soar whilst imagining myself as a bystander witnessing the slaying of the disfigured Marat or the beheading of Robespierre. Excited to get to that section of the book.
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    Offline SeanJohnson

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    Re: Book on the French Revolution
    « Reply #11 on: September 16, 2023, 10:18:09 PM »
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  • As for Sean’s recommendation, the physical copies of “Memoirs Illustrating the History of Jacobinism” by Fr. Augustin Barruel seem to be quite hard to come by. But if I can find a good, cheap printing I will definitely let everyone know. I would love to read through that next.

    Here it is for nothing:

    https://archive.org/details/BarruelMemoirsIllustratingTheHistoryOfJacobinism
    Rom 5: 20 - "But where sin increased, grace abounded all the more."