The Coming of the French Revolution Author:Georges Lefebvre This remarkable book was first published in Paris in 1939 through the auspices of the French National Committee for the Celebration of the 150th Anniversary of the French Revolution. After the outbreak of World War II and the subsequent collapse of the Third Republic, the Vichy Government took measures to suppress the book. Most of the copies ... more »of the original French edition were destroyed. It was first published in the United States in 1947 by the Princeton University Press.
From the preface: "That there have been diverse schools on the French Revolution is a reflection of wide differences within modern France on all social and political questions, differences which in turn resulted from the fact that the Revolution, though it became very violent, never exterminated its enemies, and in fact never even attempted to do so....The Revolution remained a continuing movement, spasmodically reappearing; counter-revolution therefore remained a continuing movement also. People in France have always been either for or against the great events of '89 and '93."« less