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Chargement... Lafayette and the Liberal Ideal, 1814-1824: Politics and Conspiracy in an Age of Reactionpar Sylvia Neely
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Inscrivez-vous à LibraryThing pour découvrir si vous aimerez ce livre Actuellement, il n'y a pas de discussions au sujet de ce livre. NA A thorough history of an overlooked period in the life of the Marquis de Lafayette (though at this time he preferred to be called “General Lafayette”; his aristocratic title was used ostentatiously by his royalist opponents to rile him up) — the decade of his later life when Lafayette was part of the liberal opposition to the Bourbon Restoration. Neely chronicles how Lafayette’s stubborn idealism both helped make him an uncompromising symbol for a generation of progressives, and also sometimes kept him from understanding that the silent mass of the country was not simply waiting for the signal to rise up behind Lafayette. The general is contrasted with a range of foils, from the restored King Louis XVIII (who loathed Lafayette and ordered his government to sabotage his political campaigns), the writer Benjamin Constant (who agreed with Lafayette on political matters, but who was constantly trying to clean up after messes Lafayette provoked with intemperate words), and the Bonapartist Jacques-Antoine Manuel, who believed secret military conspiracies rather than popular revolutions were the best way to overthrow the Bourbons. We also learn of Lafayette’s intriguing relationship with the English radical Fanny Wright, who at one point proposed that the much older Lafayette either adopt her or marry her. (He did neither.) This period ends in failure for Lafayette, who sees both he and his movement defeated politically, and retreats to his famous American tour. But Neely suggests, in an intriguing postscript, that Lafayette learned from the failures of this period and managed to finally get the last laugh on the Bourbons. Perhaps a bit too focused for casual fans of Lafayette, but recommended for anyone fascinated by the Hero of Two Worlds, or by the forgotten period of the Bourbon Restoration. aucune critique | ajouter une critique
Sylvia Neely provides both the first scholarly study of Lafayette s life after the French Revolution and a detailed analysis of French politics during the early Restoration.Lafayette, advocating a liberalism based on the American example, used both legal and illegal means to overturn a conservative government. The personification of liberalism for many of his contemporaries, he and his friends Benjamin Constant, Voyer d Argenson, and Charles Goyet saw themselves as fighters in an international struggle that set liberalism against the forces of reaction and obscurantism. Although he ultimately failed, Lafayette was convinced that the liberal ideals derived from the Enlightenment and from his personal mentor, George Washington, would prevail.Neely makes Lafayette s actions clear by considering seriously the principles that guided his life and by describing the political climate of the early nineteenth century. She discloses previously overlooked features of the revolutions of the 1820s which account for the divisions among the revolutionary groups. She also examines relationships between Lafayette and the prominent writers and thinkers of the period, among them Augustin Thierry, Jeremy Bentham, Lady Morgan, and Frances Wright." Aucune description trouvée dans une bibliothèque |
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Google Books — Chargement... GenresClassification décimale de Melvil (CDD)944.04History and Geography Europe France and region France Revolution 1789-1804Classification de la Bibliothèque du CongrèsÉvaluationMoyenne:
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