1789: The Threshold of the Modern Age

By David Andress

Author of The Terror (2006), a popular history about the most radical phase of the French Revolution, Andress is more ambitious in this prequel. Setting events in France alongside contemporaneous politics in Britain and the U.S., Andress tests how Enlightenment ideals of liberties and rights met with the ancien régime of traditional privileges. In all three countries, this contest was made more acute by a common problem they faced: heavy debt incurred by the American War of Independence. Whose ox would be gored to pay it stressed existing political institutions to the limit and agitated both elite and popular grievances against existing states of affairs. Andress evokes the anxious atmosphere of the 1780s, while his presentation of schemes offered to master the financial crises illustrates an Atlantic world on its way toward constitutional democracy. With in-depth narrative and analysis about 1789 s events surrounding the new government of the U.S.; the Estates-General in France; and Parliament in Britain, Andress will intrigue readers piqued by this crucial year in history.

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