Wonderland or Not

It’s Bas­ti­lle Day. I know at least one per­son who looks for­ward to this day all year long, but I also know that many don’t know the his­tory of their own country, ( in my case the U.S.) never mind that of France. For those from the U.S., it’s OK if you don’t know U.S. His­tory, pathe­tic and emba­rras­sing, but OK, after all The Bache­lo­rette is still run­ning, and you’re still stud­ying the names of those vying to become enga­ged to some women the last Bache­lor didn’t chose. Prio­ri­ties, priorities.

For me, because I find his­tory fas­ci­na­ting, and can’t ima­gine anyone not wan­ting to know more than a little something about it, and for you, I’ve con­coc­ted a ran­dom list to help out.

His­tory is no indi­ca­tor of the future. It is a record of the past, a lear­ning tool, and some­ti­mes enter­tain­ment, as in “HE DID WHAT”. The French Revo­lu­tion has something for ever­yone in this regard.

Books on the French Revo­lu­tion are com­prehen­sive and neces­sa­rily volu­mi­nous. I can’t blame the casual rea­der for shun­ning volu­mes of something they feel use­less minu­tia. That atti­tude might deserve a rethink.

The rea­sons for the Revo­lu­tion aren’t minute, or set in stone, but worth noting is that during the Revo­lu­tion France’s eco­no­mic and inte­llec­tual deve­lop­ment was not matched by social and poli­ti­cal change, and this should strike a note of fami­lia­rity, and with that inte­rest, to anyone living in and aware of what is going on in these equally tenuous times. We’ve been around a long time. there is always a been there done that to refe­rence. To see how things pla­yed out, though hope­fully not prog­nos­tic, is compelling.

If your bored, and con­si­der this kind of thing fun, explore:

Robes­pie­rre, Maxi­mi­lien Marie Isi­dore, Marie Antoi­nette, King Lou­sie XVI, LaFa­yette, Geor­ges Jac­ques Dan­ton, Paul Marat, and as influence
Jean-Jacques Rous­seau, (lef­to­ver) Napo­leone di Buonaparte.

Other musta busta’s:

The Offense: Reflec­tions on the Revo­lu­tion in France, Edmund Burke.

The Defense: The Rights of Man, Tho­mas Paine

Dec­la­ra­tion of the Rights of Man.

For sub­se­quent release from all this man figh­ting, an indi­rect result of it:
Mary Wollstonecraft’s, A Vin­di­ca­tion of the Rights of Woman with Stric­tu­res on Poli­ti­cal and Moral Sub­jects [1792].

In case you could care less about “The French”, no mat­ter the sig­ni­fi­cance of their revo­lu­tion on our his­tory and way of life, here’s some good stuff I’ve read recently:

Something we can’t blame the French for:
XXXL: Why are we so fat?

“We Bring Fear”.

Tonight a film pre­mie­ring on PBS at 10PM:
The Rec­ko­ning: The Battle For The Inter­na­tio­nal Cri­mi­nal Court,by Paco de Onís, Peter Kinoy & Pamela Yates ‚PBS Trai­ler link.

As for me, the city winery here is having a let them eat (good) cheese, crac­kers, fruit, and drink wine, Bas­ti­lle Day, happy (almost free) hour. I do anything for (almost) free (good) cheese.

Peace