'Robert Darnton is one of the world's greatest historians, and this is an exceptional book: a vast social and cultural depiction of Paris in the lead-up to the French Revolution' - Dominic Sandbrook, Sunday Times, Books of the Year.

When the Parisian crowd stormed the Bastille in July 1789, it triggered an event of global significance: the overthrow of the monarchy and the birth of a new society. Most historians attribute the French Revolution to underlying factors such as a weak economy, class conflict, or Enlightenment ideology. Without disputing these views, Robert Darnton offers a different explanation: how the Parisians themselves, those at the center of the Revolution, perceived the events unfolding at that time and how they shaped their actions.

To understand the rise of what he calls 'the revolutionary mood,' Darnton draws from a lifetime of studying pamphlets, books, underground newsletters, songs, and public performances, exploring Paris as an information society not unlike our own. News networks gathered in cafes and markets, on park benches, and under the Tree of Cracow in the Palais-Royal, a favorite gathering spot for gossipers.

He shows how the events of the last forty years – from disastrous conditions, official corruption, and royal scandals to thrilling balloon ascents and a new perception of nationality – entered the collective consciousness of ordinary Parisians. As news and opinions circulated in this deeply unequal society, public trust in royal authorities collapsed, their legitimacy was questioned, and the social order unraveled.

Many of Robert Darnton's works have explained the hidden dynamics of history, never more so than in this exceptional edition. It is a captivating narrative, but it adds a new dimension, the perceptions of contemporary Parisians, allowing us to see these crucial decades in a new way.

Pages: 576, Dimensions: 13x13cm.