I was frustrated at first since this is as much analysis as history and I wanted straighter history. Rude tends to assume the reader’s already familiar with the general history of the revolution. But I warmed to it - the French Revolution’s confusing enough; without general European social and economic context prior, and assessment of its various and widespread impacts during and after, a straight narrative of facts primarily within France from 1789 to 1815 would probably leave a reader pretty unenlightened (bad pun – couldn’t help it). So this is a good analysis; now I have to find a more substantial history. ( )

A bit flat. Too short to cover such a big canvas adequately. Whole countries just appear like chess-pieces. the reader loses the sense of perspective and motive: "Russia did this Prussia did that". Despite Rudé's interest in the crowd and the underdog, they get little look-in.Scurr's book on Robespierre gives a much better picture of the effects of the mob and of the ideals that ran through the Revolution. Schama too, in a longer work, gives the atmosphere and the ideology due weight. ( )