Citizens, Simon Schama
Citizens, Simon Schama
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Citizens
A Chronicle of the French Revolution

Author: Simon Schama

Narrator: Frederick Davidson

Unabridged: 36 hr 48 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 05/02/2012

Synopsis

From one of the truly preeminent historians of our time, this is a landmark book chronicling the French Revolution. Simon Schama deftly refutes the contemporary notion that the French Revolution represented an uprising of the oppressed poor against a decadent aristocracy and corrupt court. He argues instead that the revolution was born of a rift among the elite over the speed of progress toward modernity and science, social and economic change. Schama’s approach, weaving in and out of private and public lives in the fashion of a novel, brings us closer than we have ever been to the harrowing and seductive French Revolution.

About Simon Schama

Simon Schama is University Professor of Art History and History at Columbia University in New York. His award-winning books include Scribble, Scribble, Scribble; The American Future: A History; National Book Critics Circle Award winner Rough Crossings; The Power of Art; The Embarrassment of Riches: An Interpretation of Dutch Culture in the Golden Age; Citizens: A Chronicle of the French Revolution; Dead Certainties (Unwarranted Speculations); Landscape and Memory; Rembrandt's Eyes; and the History of Britain trilogy. He has written and presented forty television documentary films for the BBC, PBS, and The History Channel, including the Emmy-winning Power of Art, on subjects that range from John Donne to Tolstoy.

About Frederick Davidson

Frederick Davidson (1932–2005) was born in London and trained at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. He performed in BBC radio plays before coming to America in 1976. The narrator of more than eight hundred audiobooks, he garnered numerous Earphones Awards and a Grammy nomination for his readings. He was named a Golden Voice by AudioFile magazine in 1997.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Anthony on November 12, 2023

Born in Blood. The French Revolution shock society and sent the world on a rocky new path. Napoleon Bonaparte was born out of the revolution, the thousand year old Holy Roman Empire and Republic of Venice were both dismantled because of him. The Ancien Régime in France, Italy, Spain and Germany were......more

Goodreads review by Jamie on March 31, 2020

The standard narrative of the French Revolution is of the oppressed proletariat heroically rising up to throw off the intolerable burden of a cruel and indifferent monarchy. The reality, of course, was far more complicated, and Simon Schama’s Citizens raises the question of whether the revolution wa......more

Quotes

“Lively descriptions of major events, colorful cameos of leading characters (and obscure ones too), bring them to life here as no other general work has done…Above all, Mr. Schama tells a story, and he tells it well…A delight to read.” New York Times Book Review

“We are in the hands of a master storyteller…Vivid, dramatic, thought-provoking…Schama’s portrait of the revolution is often surprising…His splendid recounting convinces us that much of what we thought we knew is wrong.” Time

“A fresh and elegant narrative…A brilliantly readable and beautifully illustrated account.” Washington Post Book World

“Dazzling…Stimulating…This is no ordinary book…Schama does not merely write brilliantly about people, about events, about the abuse of rhetoric, and about festivals and executions…A stunningly virtuoso performance.” New Republic

“Entertainment and erudition work hand in hand…Schama brings to life the excitement—and harrowing terror—of an epochal human event.” Newsweek

“[A] sprawling, provocative, sometimes infuriating chronicle that stands much conventional wisdom on its head.” Publishers Weekly

“The appearance of this book is certain to be one of the main publishing events of the bicentennial year of the French Revolution. It blends gritty details about everyday life with an old-fashioned, dramatic narrative form…Schama’s book will please scholars and a wide general readership.” Library Journal

“Well-written, thoroughly documented…Schama presents Talleyrand, Lafayette, and others with more understanding than they are given in most histories, setting them amidst a web of violence of their own making. This book speaks to today’s world, as nations strive to move from despotism to democracy.” School Library Journal

Awards

  • Time Magazine Best Books of the Decade
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