Books published by Hounskull Publishing

Volume five of Taine's Origins of Contemporary France arrives, finally, at the modern régime. This first of two volumes on the subject focuses on Napoleon and the system of government he implemented following the coup with which he brought down the Directory and ended the Revolution. Taine begins by offering a detailed psychological profile of the First Consul and then Emperor, making a fascinating historical assessment of his character and genius. Next follows an account of the formation and character of the new state, describing how Napoleon, with astonishing rapidity, asserted his authority, re-imposed order, and re-organised society for the 19th century-an extraordinary achievement, given the utter ruin and prostration brought about, first, by the long stultification of the ancient régime and, then, by ten years of revolutionary mania, which saw the systematic destruction of institutions, the economy, private and public wealth, public services, infrastructure, the rule of law, moral values, and human life. Taine then evaluates the objects and merits of the Napoleonic system, balancing them in the final chapters against its defects and effects, at the level of the commune, the departments, and local society. The church, public instruction, and the family are reserved for the second volume on the modern régime, the final one in the series.

The third volume of Taine's Origins of Contemporary France focuses on the Jacobins, tracing their origins, their rise, their conquest of power, and their conduct right up until the eve of the Reign of Terror. Taine first looks at them as a distinct political species-the specific conditions that gave rise to them, their common characteristics, their psychology, their language, their illusions, their manner and style. Taine then describes the formation of the Jacobin club, their primary sources of recruitment, the multiplication of their societies, their rallying points, their sources of power, their political manoeuverings, and the extent of their fanaticism. From their coming to power, the narrative deals with the despotic, dishonest, and criminal tactics with which they defeated the Girondists and justified or encouraged physical violence, up to and including mass murder, leading, finally, to the September massacres and the guillotining of Louis XVI. It seems the moderates, the reformers, and the enemies of the rising party are impotent, cowed, or without hope, unable to quell the Jacobins' high-flown stridency, halt their aggression, or placate the cruel rapacity they instigate, all of which is invariably backed with brutal force, while couched in the fine phraseology of lofty humanist principles. Comprehensive, data-driven, and systematic, Taine's account of the unfolding Revolution is, nevertheless, replete with human detail, macabre atmosphere, and literary flourishes; it is factual history, but it rather reads like a tale of Gothic horror.

Volume number two of Taine's Origins of Contemporary France deals with the first stages of the French Revolution, from its immediate prelude, the winter of 1788, until the rise of 'the Mountain'. Taine details the dire economic and administrative conditions that led to the convocation of the States-General, the psychological transformation of the populace as it became aware of its squalid condition, and the intervention of ruffians and vagabonds, who sowed discord with rhetoric based on the 'new ideas', these malefactors interpreting political developments as it suited their vengeful and destructive instincts. From there, Taine catalogues the rapid descent into anarchy-the Great Fear of 1789-aided by feeble and ineffective measures of control on the one hand, and supine or colluding authorities on the other, while the mob grew into a political force. He analyses various factors influencing the formation, composition, operation, and results of the Constituent Assembly; the crumbling and systematic demolition of the old order; and the shambolic and chaotic attempts to build a new one as unrestrained passions, supported by ideology and expressed through violence, gained sovereignty over the land. Popular outbreaks, outrages, illegality, murder, arson, book-burning, wanton destruction of private property, military insubordination, and even instances of cannibalism herein set the stage for the Jacobin conquest.

Written in the form of a dialogue between a witness and a student, Behemoth is Thomas Hobbes' angry, causal account of the English Civil War, the events of which created the context for his political philosophy, as elaborated in his seminal works, De Cive (1642) and Leviathan (1651). The narrative spans from the beginning of the Scottish revolution in 1637 until the Restoration of the monarchy in 1660. In his discussion of sedition, rebellion, the disintegration of authority, and his countrymen's false notions about liberty, government, property, and religion, Hobbes describes the catastrophic outcome of government abuse and agitation by the universities, the latter having proven to the nation 'as the wooden horse had been to the Trojans'. Although completed in 1668, Charles II, Hobbes' former pupil, flatly refused to licence it, not caring for a direct discussion on these controversial topics, and not least because, although a proponent on rational grounds of the sovereign's absolute power, Hobbes was, at the same time, an ambiguous royalist. The manuscript thus remained unpublished until the final year of Hobbes' life, when several pirate editions appeared abroad. Hobbes' regular publisher, William Crooke, responded in 1682 by publishing a corrective version, on which subsequent editions were based. Ferdinand Tönnies at last discovered the original manuscript in the late 19th century, enabling him to restore numerous passages later deleted by the author, thereby supplying, in 1889, the closest thing there is to a faithful rendition of the original text.