The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Origins of Contemporary France, Volume
1 (of 6), by Hippolyte A. Taine

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Title: The Origins of Contemporary France, Volume 1 (of 6)
The Ancient Regime

Author: Hippolyte A. Taine

Annotator: Svend Rom

Translator: John Durand, 1880

Posting Date: June 18, 2008 [EBook #2577]
Release Date: April, 2001

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ANCIENT REGIME ***

Produced by Svend Rom

THE ORIGINS OF CONTEMPORARY FRANCE, VOLUME 1

THE ANCIENT REGIME

by Hippolyte A. Taine

CONTENTS:

PREFACE.

BOOK FIRST. The Structure of the Ancient Society.

CHAPTER I. The Origin of Privileges.

CHAPTER II. The Privileged Classes.

CHAPTER III. Local Services Due by the Privileged Classes.

CHAPTER IV. Public services due by the privileged classes.

BOOK SECOND. Habits and Characters.

CHAPTER I. Social Habits.

CHAPTER II. Drawing room Life.

CHAPTER III. Disadvantages of this Drawing room Life.

BOOK THIRD. The Spirit and the Doctrine.

CHAPTER I. Scientific Acquisition.

CHAPTER II. The Classic Spirit, the Second Element.

CHAPTER III. Combination of the two elements.

CHAPTER IV. Organizing the Future Society.

BOOK FOURTH. The Propagation of the Doctrine.

CHAPTER I. Success in France.

CHAPTER II. The French Public.

CHAPTER III. The Middle Class.

BOOK FIFTH. The People

CHAPTER I. Hardships.

CHAPTER II. Taxation the principal cause of misery.

CHAPTER III. Intellectual state of the people.

CHAPTER IV. The Armed Forces.

CHAPTER V. Summary.

INTRODUCTION

Why should we fetch Taine's work up from its dusty box in the basement
of the national library? First of all because his realistic views of our
human nature, of our civilization and of socialism as well as his dark
premonitions of the 20th century were proven correct. Secondly because
we may today with more accuracy call his work:

"The Origins of Popular Democracy and of Communism."

His lucid analysis of the current ideology remains as interesting
or perhaps even more interesting than when it was written especially
because we cannot accuse him o