A review by crowandtome
French Revolutions for Beginners by Michael J. Lamonica

4.0

I struggled to rate this book because I felt that, while it was accessible, accurate, and surprisingly funny, it was a bit advanced for a so-called "beginner's guide." This book expects you to have a fairly solid grasp of concepts like the plebiscite, feudalism, Enlightenment philosophy, and monetary policy, and at least a passing knowledge of figures such as Robespierre, Marie Antionette, and Napoleon. Various relevant dates were omitted, and there was no sense of geography in the book, nor were there helpful tools such as timelines, indices, or maps. I gave it as high of a rating as I did on the strength of the writing, which was engaging and easy to understand, and the research, which was smoothly organized and hung together well, but if they had broken down the topics for true beginners then it would have received 5 stars.