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Citizens & Cannibals
The French Revolution, the Struggle for Modernity, and the Origins of Ideological Terror
by Eli Sagan
ISBN: 0742508315
ISBN-13: 9780742508316
Format: Hardcover
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Bibliographic Details
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Pub Inc
Published date: 2001
Size: 6.5 x 9.5 inches
Weight: 2.3 pounds
Pages: 624
Publisher's Notes
Why did the French Revolution, informed by Enlightenment principles of liberty, equality, and fraternity, end in the Great Reign of Terror? How could once moral citizens transform themselves into bloodthirsty "guillotine cannibals" bent on slaughtering their political opponents? For generations, these questions have mystified historians. Until now. In CITIZENS & CANNIBALS, noted scholar Eli Sagan argues that France's failed evolution into a modern state introduced to the world a previously unknown scourge with catastrophic consequences: ideological terror.
France's passage into social and political modernity held for its citizens both great promise and great anxiety. Sagan analyzes this anxiety and demonstrates why the ensuing ideological terror is common to many societies in transition, including the transformations of Weimar to Nazi Germany, Czarist to Soviet Russia, and agrarian to Communist China. While the French Revolution may have introduced ideological terror to the world, Sagan makes it clear that Hitler, Stalin, and other dictators have perpetuated its existence time after time. In fact, Sagan concludes that the seeds of ideological terror remain present in all modernizing societies, at all times, and if given the proper conditions they will germinate in a very predictable way.
As in his previous books, Sagan explores the past to illuminate the political strengths and moral shortcomings of all democratic societies, past, present, and future. With this brilliant new analysis of the French Revolution, he reminds us once again that the past can still teach us a great deal about our modern predicament-specifically, why all political progress must come at grave cost. CITIZENS & CANNIBALS is a rigorous work of history and profound psychological insight that offers readers the most comprehensive explanation of the great ambiguities and contradictions of the modern world.
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Citizens and Cannibals
Sagan, Eli
Rowman & Littlefield, 2001. Hardcover. NF. Ink to title page./NF.. no. Argues that Frances failure to evolve into a modern state following the Revolution introduced to the world ideological terror. Heavy book may require more postage. Hardcover ( more information) Offered by Old Goat Books (Canada)
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Citizens & Cannibals (Qty: 3)
SAGAN, ELI
ROWMAN & LITTLEFIELD, 2002. Brand new. <br>Author: SAGAN, ELI<br>Publisher: ROWMAN & LITTLEFIELD<br>Year Of Publication: 2002<br>Pages: 640<br>Publication Country: USA<br>Dimensions: 230<br>Format: hardback<br>The French Revolution introduced ideological terror to the world. This book offers a comprehensive explanation of the gruesome Terror, its causes and its consequences for the modern world. ( more information) Offered by Thunder Books (United States)
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