shopping cart
Save up to 30% on our Staff Picks
Call us:  800-878-7323 HELP
McAfee SECURE helps keep you safe from identity theft, credit card fraud, spyware, spam, viruses and online scams.
Book News, Guests | December 14, 2009

Amy Gray: IMG How to Be a Vampire



Oh, hi. I'm Amy Gray. I like smoking, carbs, and words. I live in the (currently) sleek humidity of Melbourne, Australia. When not lying... Continue »
  1. $10.49 Sale Hardcover add to wish list

This item may be
out of stock.

Click on the button below to search for this title in other formats.
Check for Availability
Add to Wishlist

Bastille: A History of a Symbol of Despotism & Freedom

Bastille: A History of a Symbol of Despotism & Freedom Cover

Synopses & Reviews

Publisher Comments:

This book is both an analysis of the Bastille as cultural paradigm and a case study on the history of French political culture. It examines in particular the storming and subsequent fall of the Bastille in Paris on July 14, 1789 and how it came to represent the cornerstone of the French Revolution, becoming a symbol of the repression of the Old Regime. Lusebrink and Reichardt use this semiotic reading of the Bastille to reveal how historical symbols are generated; what these symbols' functions are in the collective memory of societies; and how they are used by social, political, and ideological groups.

To facilitate the symbolic nature of the investigation, this analysis of the evolving signification of the Bastille moves from the French Revolution to the nineteenth century to contemporary history. The narrative also shifts from France to other cultural arenas, like the modern European colonial sphere, where the overthrow of the Bastille acquired radical new signification in the decolonization period of the 1940s and 1950s. The Bastille demonstrates the potency of the interdisciplinary historical research that has characterized the end of this century, combining quantitative and qualitative approaches, and taking its methodological tools from history, sociology, linguistics, and cultural and literary studies.

Product Details

ISBN:
9780822319023
Subtitle:
(a history of a symbol of despotism and freedom )
Publisher:
Duke University Press
Location:
Durham :
Subject:
France
Subject:
Liberty
Subject:
Symbolism in politics.
Subject:
Symbolism in politics -- France.
Edition Description:
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Series:
Bicentennial reflections on the French Revolution
Series Volume:
no. 91
Publication Date:
1997
Illustrations:
Yes
Pages:
xv, 304 p.
  • back to top

Powell's City of Books is an independent bookstore in Portland, Oregon, that fills a whole city block with more than a million new, used, and out of print books. Shop those shelves — plus literally millions more books, DVDs, and eBooks — here at Powells.com.