Teaching Representations of the French ed. by Julia Douthwaite Viglione et al. (review)

To quote the editors, "the Revolution was not one event but a complicated web of often brutal actions, interactions, and reactions" (1). Fittingly, this book presents several approaches to teaching the Revolution through a variety of cultural lenses and from multiple (and often interdisciplinary) perspectives, for example military history, hip-hop, and caricature. Christopher Tozzi points out the lack of courses covering military history and provides examples for integrating French Revolutionary history in the classroom. Séverine Rebourcet shows that hip-hop and the Revolution have in common issues of identity, religion, and heritage. As we know from Hamilton and its creator, Lin-Manuel Miranda, hip-hop is the music of revolution itself. Melanie Conroy uses the Revolution and the ideas and laws of the First Republic to demonstrate how Charlie Hebdo developed in France. As she mentions, there is no equivalent publication in the United States, which leaves American students unable to grasp Charlie Hebdo's place in French culture. Other approaches include theater, human rights, mass media, and the global impact of the Revolution during the nineteenth century through our current times. One particularly striking feature of every essay is that the authors make connections, whether implicit or explicit, between the French Revolution and present-day issues, including immigration, the role of the government, women's rights, and propaganda. In this way, beyond providing ways to teach the Revolution, the text makes an excellent argument for teaching it and suggests why students, or citizens of the world, should understand that period of history. To this end, in particular, one co-authored essay provides approaches for both French language and world history classes. Additionally, the authors provide ideas for applying the themes and concepts of the Revolution to other events, ideas, eras, and movements. The text serves as an excellent reference book on the Revolution, its major themes and players, as well as a teaching manual for courses in French history, culture, and current events. It is an excellent read for its own sake, as well as an important pedagogical tool.