Paris and London in the eighteenth century: studies in popular protest
By: [by] George Rudé.
Series: Fontana library
Publisher: Collins
Published: 1970
Place of publication: London
Language: eng
Number of pages: 350
Subjects: Riots -- France -- Paris -- History -- 18th century.; Riots -- England -- London -- History -- 18th century.; Social history -- 18th century.; Paris (France) -- Social conditions.; London (England) -- Social conditions.
First sentence: The articles reproduced in this volume relate, in one form or another, to popular protests and revolts breaking out in Paris and London during the eighteenth century.
Description: At numerous points throughout the eighteenth century, the people of Paris and London –then the two largest cities in the world– rioted and demonstrated, looted property, and marches in protest. Their grievances varied as much as their aims, but the diversity notwithstanding, historians have been quick to label these groups of honest citizens as "mob", as "inhabitants of the dangerous districts, always ready to pillage", as squalid and dangerous intruders on the historical scene.

George Rudé, in his classic book The Crowd in the French Revolution, established that this view was deeply mistaken. In that book and in subsequent studies, he gave a dimension and meaning to the history of pre-revolutionary protest which it had all but wholly lacked before. Now, in this book, the outcome of nearly two decades of research in the libraries and archives of the two capitals, he explores the similarities and differences in urban protests and revolts during the eighteenth century.

Professor Rudé's focus in the French case is naturally on the cataclysmic events of the Revolution itself - or rather, on the people who created the insurrections that shaped and formed it. "I began by asking (it seemed a simple enough question): who actually took the Bastille? Who marched to Versailles, stormed the Tuileries, or stood silently by while Robespierre was toppled from power? Whose, in fact, were the "faces in the crowd'? In the case of London, Professor Rudé's attention was drawn to more disparate, and less well documented, events: "Mother Gin" and the riots of 1736, the "Wilkes and Liberty" movement of the 1760s, the Gordon riots of 1780.

"In order to get into the skulls of the participants," the author writes, "it was not sufficient merely to establish their identity; something also had to be done to unravel the motives and impulsions that urged them to take part in these events." This fascinating and demanding task Professor Rudé has achieved with great brilliance and insight. His presentation of popular insurrection in the eighteenth century not only alters and deepens our understanding of the political and social history of that crucial time, but throws new light on the issues of urban life today.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references.
"Fontana history."
Table of contents: label: Acknowledgments
pagenum: 6; label: Introduction
pagenum: 7; label: One: Paris and London
title: The 'Pre-Industrial' Crowd
pagenum: 17; label: One: Paris and London
title: Society and Conflict in London and Paris in the Eighteenth Century
pagenum: 35; label: Part Two: Paris
title: The Outbreak of the French Revolution
pagenum: 63; label: Part Two: Paris
title: The Fall of the Bastille
pagenum: 82; label: Part Two: Paris
title: The Social Composition of the Parisian Insurgents of 1789–1791
pagenum: 96; label: Part Two: Paris
title: The Motives of Popular Insurrection in Paris during the French Revolution
pagenum: 130; label: Part Two: Paris
title: Prices, Wages and Popular Movements in Paris during the French Revolution
pagenum: 163; label: Part Three: London
title: 'Mother Gin' and the London Riots of 1736
pagenum: 201; label: Part Three: London
title: Wilkes and Liberty: 1768–9
pagenum: 222; label: Part Three: London
title: The Gordon Riots: A Study of the Rioters and their Victims
pagenum: 268; label: Part Three: London
title: The London'Mob' of the Eighteenth Century
pagenum: 293; label: Part Three: London
title: Collusion and Convergence in Eighteenth Century English Political Action
pagenum: 319; label: Index
pagenum: 341