Doyle, W. The Oxford History of the French Revolution, 2nd edn. Oxford: Oxford University

The book “Oxford History of the French Revolution” focuses on the French Revolution that was witnessed in 1789-1802. The author focuses on France before the revolution, the accession to power of Louis XVI in 1774, causes and effects of the Revolution, and the triumph of Napoleon. Through the book, the author describes how the revolution that was expected to have a significant change to the French people turned out to be a disaster.  The author views the revolution as a tragedy that affected the French people, ruling leaders, and millions of the European population.

The author states that the revolution came as a result of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette causing the French people to starve and discriminating against them. The citizens also experienced winter frosts and poor harvests price inflation, and this caused them to lead protests against the monarch. As the author describes, the protests were initially started by few people who aired their grievances with the hope that the monarch will respond and help them. Protesters started increasing in number as people begun to doubt the monarchy and observed that it was not concerned about their welfare.  Death and injury of the citizens were some of the effects that the revolution had as many people lost their lives in a bid to seek for reform of the monarchy. Napoleon Bonaparte, who was a popular military general, was seen by the protesters as their liberator from the oppressive regime and after years of the revolution, he ascended to power to lead the people.

Doyle’s book is well organized and presents a clear chronology of events as they happened during the revolution. He starts by describing how France was under the leadership of Louis XVI and how the citizens suffered under his regime. Doyle further describes the events as they happened during the revolution by stating the effects that it had on the citizens as well as other Europeans. He describes each event with the year it happened giving the reader a clear insight of the revolution. The chronological presentation of the events helps a reader to understand the book without being confused. Doyle presents an unbiased reading allowing readers to base their opinion from what they have read. He does not describe what should have been done differently and does not criticize the monarch’s or the citizen’s actions. He instead presents the facts as they happened and lets the reader decide what was wrong or right. By presenting an unbiased approach to the book, the reader makes the book an interesting read to people as they do not feel sidelined because of their opinion. If the author presented his opinions by taking a side in the French Revolution, the book would not have appealed to readers who have a different opinion from his. The conclusion of the author is presented in a clear manner that leaves the reader satisfied with the reading and interested. The conclusion should be presented in a way that the reader has more facts about a book and the author’s presentation.

Doyle used maps in his books that showed different aspects of his discussion. One of the maps helps the reader to understand the pre-revolutionary France. To ensure that the reader understands the boundaries, the author uses different types of lines.  The maps also show the various departments of revolutionary France, the main section, streets, and cities that the revolution took place, the resistance of the revolution, and expansion of revolutionary France. The use of maps in a book help the readers to have a clearer understanding of what they read as they can relate the content of the map to what they have read. The cover of the book also helps the reader to understand that the author covers events that occurred a long time ago. The cover consists of a man wearing clothes that are associated with the 18^th century when the revolution occurred. The man is carrying a sword indicating that there was a revolution or war that was witnessed. Behind the man are fellow men who are dressed in clothes and protective gears that are associated with war or revolution. The title is written clearly and gives the reader an idea of what the book is about and they can decide whether it is a topic that interests them. The cover page of a book can guide the reader in understanding the contents of the book and decide if it is related to what they want to read.

Doyle’s book is well written by use of simple English that is easy to understand. This is important because the reader’s interest can be generated by the language used. If the language is complicated and hard for the readers to understand, they may choose to stop reading the book, and this will not help the author to educate them. The use of jargons also makes the readers avoid reading books as they do not find it interesting to read books that they have to look for the meaning of various terms. The spacing between words and sentences in the books is done in an appealing manner. The words and sentences are not constructed so closely together, and this helps the reader to read the book with ease. The book has 481 pages that make it considerably large. The high number of pages ensured that the author had the opportunity to discuss the French Revolution in detail making the readers have a clear understanding of the events, and he did not leave room for the readers to guess what happened.  The book has a bibliography that examines the historiography of the revolution. The book was interesting to me, and I liked it because it discussed a topic that I have wanted to learn about for a while. The author targeted history students as he wrote the book as it gives them knowledge about the various events that were witnessed in France. It was also intended for other authors who can use the book as a point of reference. The author also understood that there are people who like to read about different aspects such as the history of events and he also targeted them. The book covered much information, and the author wrote in a way that someone who has never heard of French revolution can understand it without looking at other books.

The author, William Doyle, is a historian and has specialized in the French revolution that happened in the 18^th century. He is also a revisionist of the French revolution and a history professor at Bristol University. He has researched and discussed the French revolution for years and written many history books. His immense knowledge of the history of the French revolution makes him qualified to write this book and provide valuable knowledge to the readers.