Book · 2010 · History
The Old Regime and the French Revolution
- mentions
- 2
- people
- 2
- podcast
- 1
- episode
- 1
- recommendations
- 2
There's a great line, I don't have it right in front of me at the moment, but in uh in Toqueville's regime in the French Revolution, which is really dynamite book everybody should read. At the end of it, he lays it out.
Why people recommend it
The Old Regime and the French Revolution by Alexis De Tocqueville is a classic historical analysis examining the deep institutional and social continuities that preceded the dramatic upheavals of 1789. Mike Duncan recommended Tocqueville's book on an episode of Behind the Bastards as he discussed how social atomization could enable tyranny, describing the work as a dynamite book that everybody should read. During the same episode, Robert Evans returned to Tocqueville's book while discussing how the French Revolution continued earlier developments rather than creating a clean break, noting that the volume provides vital context showing how much of the revolution was actually a continuation of existing administrative trends. Both speakers emphasized the enduring analytical power of Tocqueville's observations regarding state power, societal change, and the historical forces that quietly shape revolutions long before the first shots are ever fired, making it an indispensable text for understanding the mechanics of political transformation and the persistence of bureaucratic structures through turbulent eras of history.
Every mention
Mike Duncan There's a great line, I don't have it right in front of me at the moment, but in uh in Toqueville's regime… 1
“There's a great line, I don't have it right in front of me at the moment, but in uh in Toqueville's regime in the French Revolution, which is really dynamite book everybody should read. At the end of it, he lays it out.”
Robert Evans That's actually I mean just I wouldn't even have thought that I'm going to tie this back again to which the… 1
“That's actually I mean just I wouldn't even have thought that I'm going to tie this back again to which the reason I would recommend regime is because that is a book about how much of the revolution was a continuation of what was going on before it and not actually caused by the revolutionary break.”
