The French Revolution as Viewed
Through Both Ends of the Binoculars
10:00 a.m., Monday, Sept. 11, 2006
Webster Hall Auditorium
Admission: free

This presentation began with a distant view showing the broad outlines of the era and its significance. Then it took a close look at one small but fascinating episode in 1792. It is the story of one man’s struggle to get his pay from the government, but it also involves war, insurrection, massacre, civil war, clashing revolutionary heroes and ideas, branches of government at loggerheads, and an argument over whether everyone in the country should speak the official language.

Dr. Michael W. Howell is professor of history at the College of the Ozarks near Branson, Mo. He received his Ph.D. at The University of North Carolina after studying in Paris on a Georges Lurcy Fellowship. Focusing on the political history of the Revolution, Dr. Howell draws on his article, “Danton, Roland, and Dugas: Politics, Bureaucracy, and Language in the French Revolution,” in The Historian for this presentation.