HeadZUP!1 The History Channel running "The French Revolution" at Noon ET!1

[UTUSN]

I just finished reading Professor Simon SCHAMA's "Citizen" (A Chronicle of the FR), which is stupendous, though I'm way behind its 1989 publishing date. His bottom line, in 900 pages, is that the monarchy or just plain the movement of history had had reform and modernizing forces in play that were irreversible such that the FR isn't what made the big change, that the French economy and everything else didn't improve until Napoleon extorted cash from all the countries he "liberated" (the price for their "freedom).

Anyway, the Revolution is here!1

[Zynx]

1. I love Simon Schama. His History of Britain series is fantastic too.

I should get that book.

[Misskittycat]

2. History of the Tzars is on right now; 9 am PST.

[Marr]

3. I'll watch this one. I admit I'm kind of a cynic, but...

I'm of the opinion that all of the representative government in the west over the last 300 years has been a reaction to the French Revolution, and, to a lesser degree, the Cold War. Without some other event comparable to those conflicts, I suspect we're going to slowly sink deeper and deeper into governmental systems that do nothing beyond service big finance and the top 1% of the population.