Ever since the French Revolution, Madame de Pompadour's comment, "Apr???s moi, le d???luge" (after me, the deluge), has looked like a callous if accurate prophecy of the political cataclysms that began in 1789. But decades before the Bastille fell, French writers had used the phrase to describe a different kind of selfish recklessness--not toward the flood of revolution but, rather, toward the flood of public debt. In Before the Deluge , Michael Sonenscher examines these fears and the responses to them, and the result is ...
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Ever since the French Revolution, Madame de Pompadour's comment, "Apr???s moi, le d???luge" (after me, the deluge), has looked like a callous if accurate prophecy of the political cataclysms that began in 1789. But decades before the Bastille fell, French writers had used the phrase to describe a different kind of selfish recklessness--not toward the flood of revolution but, rather, toward the flood of public debt. In Before the Deluge , Michael Sonenscher examines these fears and the responses to them, and the result is nothing less than a new way of thinking about the intellectual origins of the French Revolution. In this nightmare vision of the future, many prerevolutionary observers predicted that the pressures generated by modern war finance would set off a chain of debt defaults that would either destroy established political orders or cause a sudden lurch into despotic rule. Nor was it clear that constitutional government could keep this possibility at bay. Constitutional government might make public credit more secure, but public credit might undermine constitutional government itself. Before the Deluge examines how this predicament gave rise to a widespread eighteenth-century interest in figuring out how to establish and maintain representative governments able to realize the promise of public credit while avoiding its peril. By doing so, the book throws new light on a neglected aspect of modern political thought and on the French Revolution.
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Add this copy of Before the Deluge: Public Debt, Inequality, and the to cart. $88.38, good condition, Sold by Bonita rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Newport Coast, CA, UNITED STATES, published 2009 by Princeton University Press.
Add this copy of Before the Deluge: Public Debt, Inequality, and the to cart. $76.21, fair condition, Sold by Anybook rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Lincoln, UNITED KINGDOM, published 2007 by Princeton University Press.
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Seller's Description:
This is an ex-library book and may have the usual library/used-book markings inside. This book has hardback covers. In fair condition, suitable as a study copy. No dust jacket. Please note the Image in this listing is a stock photo and may not match the covers of the actual item, 800grams, ISBN: 9780691124995.
Add this copy of Before the Deluge: Public Debt, Inequality, and the to cart. $109.29, good condition, Sold by Bonita rated 4.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Newport Coast, CA, UNITED STATES, published 2007 by Princeton Univ Pr.
Add this copy of Before the Deluge: Public Debt, Inequality, and the to cart. $150.62, very good condition, Sold by anyswinggoes rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from San Diego, CA, UNITED STATES, published 2007 by Princeton Univ Pr.
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Seller's Description:
Used: Very Good. Size: 6x1x9; Clean and unmarked. Some minor cosmetic shelf wear. From a private collection. Very good condition. Comes from non smoking home.
