This book presents a provincial view of the French Revolution and assesses the experience of revolution across a broad swathe of south-western France, in an area which increasingly looked to Bordeaux as its capital city. Here the Revolution was not simply a pale reflection of events in Paris. Local conflicts and personal rivalries are vital to our understanding of the shape of events in the region, as are contrasting traditions of religious affiliation, peasant radicalism, and obedience to the state. The book examines the Revolution within a thematic framework, and discusses such aspects as the growth of a local political culture, the incidence of rural insurrection, religious responses to the Revolution, the chequered appeal of federalism, and the uneven experience of Terror and political repression.

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Alan Forrest is a Professor of History at York University.

'The author presents us with a work which sets a wealth of local detail within the broader context of the revolution. It is very refreshing to read this sort of writing.' Emma Vincent MacLeod, History Vol.85 no.277

'Beginning with the period before the revolution and continuing through the Directory, Forrest provides a careful, well-documented study of the impact of these tumultuous years on one French province. This study is an excellent addition to regional histories of the revolution. Forrest does well in navigating the reader through the maze of local politics and their importance in determining a village or town's reaction and events. in addition, he provides maps so that the reader can follow the geographic and political divisions and their association with the variations in responses to the revolution. Most importantly, The Revolution in Provincial France reminds us that this period was not only played out in Paris and provincial cities, but also in the most remote parts of the hexagon.' Cynthia S. Bisson, The Historian, Vol.61 No.3

'Alan Forrest's authoritative study of Aquitaine ... concentrates on individual actors in the Revolutionary drama, as well as on the particularism of certain regions.' Times Literary Supplement

'This book is based on a wide range of secondary sources supplemented by documents from archival series in Paris and the seven department capitals of the southwest. Forrest deftly weaves this material into a sturdy text that is sensitive to the many differences of experience across the area even while it facilitates comparison with other regions ... a smooth blend of venerable older scholarship and more recent historiographical concerns ... it is realy novices locked in a Paris-centred understanding of the revolution who will reap the greatest rewards from this book's richly provincial point of view' Howard G Brown, Journal of Modern History, Vol 71, no 3, September 1999