Confiscating the common good

Edward J. Woell is Professor of History at Western Illinois University

• Introduction1 Hidden in plain sight2 A new story3 Two tribes4 Out of many, one5 Myth and realpolitik6 A forgotten fightConclusionIndex

'Two things stand out about this book and justify its inclusion in a series devoted to innovative monographs and edited collections on the history of France and its colonies. The author turns the spotlight on the supposedly ‘quiet year’ of the revolution, starting in November 1789, and takes as his angle of vision the collective life of small towns...The institutions underpinning small-town Catholic piety also captured and expressed a sense of local democracy. This “democratic ethos” would succumb irretrievably when legislators in the Constituent Assembly set about stripping away monasteries, bishoprics, chapters and, in some cases, even parishes (p. 13). It is in this sense that we should understand the book’s title. As Woell notes in an ominous conclusion, dismantling the common good has both a contemporary and a historical resonance.'Peter M Jones, H-France Review