Becoming a Revolutionary

“Narratives abound of France’s first legislature, the Estates General of 1789, which became the Constituent Assembly of 1789–1791. None involve the detailed research that this coherent, collective biography of its total 1,315 deputies represents. Timothy Tackett has combed the public and private archives of France to find over 150 separate collections of deputies’ correspondence. . . . Tackett’s book is essential reading for anyone interested in the origins of that revolutionary France.”

—Emmet Kennedy American Historical Review

“For two hundred years, historians have vigorously debated a basic enigma of the French Revolution: how a group of men without a preconceived goal, divided in their intentions as well as their backgrounds, managed to come together in an undertaking that ultimately led to the overthrow of the Old Regime. In this meticulously documented and convincingly argued study, Timothy Tackett has made a major contribution to this historical debate. . . . By his richly detailed charting of the transformations which occurred in the attitudes of these deputies, Tackett has provided valuable insight into how their reactions to the political contingencies and social interactions which they experienced ultimately turned them into revolutionaries.”

—Jo Ann Browning Seeley Catholic Historical Review

“This book is an exemplary product of the historian's craft, exhibiting a mastery of a vast array of sources, including some 57 public and private archives. Building on this evidential base, Tackett speaks to fundamental issues in the historiography of the French Revolution.”

—Alan B. Spitzer Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science

“Timothy Tackett’s book is a critical intervention in the debate on the French revolution. It stands eloquent testimony to an emerging post-revisionist current, one that seeks to reveal the empirical inadequacy of the revisionist case.”

—James Livesey H-Net Book Reviews

“A new book by Timothy Tackett is always one to be welcomed, for he is at once an able writer, a respected scholar, and a pioneer in the art of applying a new methodology to major problems in socio-political history. Moreover, in this book, which is as informative in detail as it is authoritative in substance, he brings his fresh approach to a particularly crucial question, that of the composition and character of the Constituent Assembly, the first national parliament of Revolutionary France.”

—Michael Sydenham Social History

“By exhaustive and resourceful combing of archives and libraries throughout France, Tackett has unearthed far more evidence about the views of the members of the National Assembly than anybody before him. . . . In every sense, this book shows that, even on topics about which we thought we knew everything, the last word has not been said.”

—William Doyle Journal of Modern History

“A major contribution to the history of the French Revolution.”

—Sarah Maza Journal of Interdisciplinary History

“Tackett reintroduces a social dimension to revolutionary politics. . . . His provocative book both challenges many of the ‘revisionist’ arguments and raises questions about the interpretation of the Revolution.”

—Mike Rapport History