France before 1789 - Jon Elster

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Résumé :
France before 1789 traces the historical origins of France's National Constituent Assembly of 1789, providing a vivid portrait of the ancien r?gime and its complex social system in the decades before the French Revolution. Jon Elster writes in the spirit of Alexis de Tocqueville, who described this tumultuous era with an eye toward individual and group psychology and the functioning of institutions. Whereas Tocqueville saw the old regime as a breeding ground for revolution, Elster, more specifically, identifies the rural and urban conflicts that fueled the constitution-making process from 1789 to 1791. He presents a new approach to history writing, one that supplements the historian's craft with the tools and insights of modern social science. Elster draws on important French and Anglo-American scholarship as well as a treasure trove of historical evidence from the period, such as the Memoirs of Saint-Simon, the letters of Madame de S?vign?, the journals of the lawyer Barbier and the bookseller Hardy, the Remonstrances of Malesherbes, and La Bruy?re's maxims.

Biographie:
Jon Elster is the Robert K. Merton Professor of Social Science at Columbia University and honorary professor at the Coll?ge de France. His many books include Securities against Misrule: Juries, Assemblies, Elections; Alexis de Tocqueville: The First Social Scientist; and Ulysses and the Sirens: Studies in Rationality and Irrationality. He lives in Oslo, Norway.