Simon Schama - Cidadãos - Uma Crónica da Revolução Francesa

Contrary to a certain general idea of ​​the French Revolution as a sudden moment of rupture – and founder of the modern era – carried out against a dying Old Regime and against a nobility entrenched in its privileges, this work tells us that it was much more than that. It describes a country that was nonetheless vibrant, undergoing a drastic economic transformation and with diverse local dynamics. More than an event with its epicenter in Paris, imposed on a homogeneous France, Simon Schama shows us that "there were several 'revolutions', often determined by local passions and interests."
For this reason, the Author wanted to write in narrative form and in the format of 19th-century chronicles, "allowing different issues and interests to shape the flow of history as they make themselves felt, year after year, month after month." He further argues that "the patriotic culture of citizenship was born in the decades following the Seven Years' War and was more a cause and less a product of the French Revolution."