French Revolution Studies
Academic works about the French Revolution! Not focused on primary sources or the Napoleonic era, just the Revolution- let’s goooo
See my pinned comment for MANY more that aren’t on PB
created by StJust
last updated August, 2026
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Please note that I haven’t read 100% of the books here, but most of them! This list offers a wide array of views on the Revolution, some of which IMO are more valid than others. But it’s interesting to see how people have interpreted it over the years.
There are so many books I wanted to put on here that aren’t on PB!!
- The French Revolution by J.F. Bosher
- Paris, the Provinces and the French Revolution by Alan Forrest
- The French Revolution, from its origins to 1793 by Georges Lefebvre (this whole series is good)
- The French Revolution 1770-1814 by François Furet
- The Thermidorean Regime and the Directory 1794-1799 by Denis Woronoff
- Parlez-vous sans-culotte ? by Michel Biard (I don’t think this has been published in English)
- The Course of the French Revolution by Pierre Goubert
- A Rhetoric of Bourgeois Revolution by William H. Sewell
- What is the Third Estate by the Abbé Sieyes
- Festivals and the French Revolution by Mona Ozouf
- The French Revolution: A Political History by John Hardman
- Surviving Revolution: Bourgeois Lives and Letters by Denise Z. Davidson
- The French Revolution : Faith, Desire and Politics by Noah Shusterman
- The First Emancipation: The Forgotten History of Abolition in Revolutionary France by Jeremy Popkin
- Rebel Daughters: Women and the French Revolution by Sara Melzer and Leslie Rabine
- Marx and the French Revolution by François Furet
- A Socialist History of the French Revolution by Jean Jaurès
- Jean-Paul Marat: Prophet of Terror by Keith Michael Baker
Also the book Interpreting the French Revolution is by François Furet, I have no clue who this listed author is 😂😂
Extra credit that is a side topic to the French Revolution but super worth reading: The Black Jacobins: Toussaint L’Ouverture and the San Domingo Revolution by C.L.R. James
Just discovering this list, It's amazing 🤩 The work you've done 🥹 You're way more knowledgeable on the topic than most French people, you really deserve your Honorary Frenchie title 🫶
Which ones would you recommend to start knowing I've literally read none?!
Also, do you know you can add books to PB based on Goodreads links? It's pretty useful to fill the Francophonie list I have actually.
StJustOP
Aw thanks!! 🥰🥰 My graduate degree is in this topic so most of the work was looking at my bookshelves 😂
For the average PB reader I think the best starting points are Jeremy Popkin’s A New World Begins and Peter McPhee’s Liberty or Death.
I think also for you, because you definitely have a minimum baseline - you might want to look at Furet’s Penser la Révolution française for discussion of how people have traditionally thought about it and potential other interpretations. It’s highly academic though 😂
For anyone will a background in history at an academic level, the classic starting places would be the surveys and essays by François Furet or Georges Lefebvre.
I would also strongly suggest, after a first read of a general book, to check out The First Emancipation by Jeremy Popkin then The Black Jacobins by C.L.R. James for a look at how the Revolution echoed and changed across the world!
I do know about the GR import, but to be honest I’m doubtful that many of these would be there either! I also don’t have a GR account so I don’t usually think about it. That’s a good suggestion though - I’ll look for them at some point!
Thank you so much for this thorough introduction!
I'm surprised to see how many books were written on it by foreign authors! It seems I can get A New World Begins in audiobook format so I'll consider it thanks! And I'll definitely try to check out François Furet or Georges Lefebvre's works as they might be more accessible to me actually, but also very intrigued to learn more about how it echoed across the world!
I don't have a GR account either but I've got used to checking ratings there for English books that don't have much rating on PB. It can really be a tedious task to look for and all the items on your list though so no pressure! I myself have made choices on that lol
StJustOP
There’s lots of English language study of this area!! Weirdly (or predictably, depending on your perspective), French historians on the Revolution tend to stick with more traditional interpretations while non-French people have a little more outside-the-box thinking. So I think it’s good to have a mix in this case!
That is very true that sometimes you need to take a step back to appreciate the full picture! Thank you so much for the insight, I will check them out!
