In this Book
- The Great Fear of 1789: Rural Panic in Revolutionary France
- Book
- 2014
- Published by: Princeton University Press
- Series: Princeton Legacy Library
This major work, graphically describes the panic, paranoia, and social chaos that sparked the Revolution. One of France's great historians analyzes the causes of the mass hysteria that overcame rural France during the summer of 1789, as hungry villagers flocked into towns to look for work or to beg for charity, and as vagrants and beggars choked the rural roads, threatening reprisals against householders who refused to give them shelter or a crust of bread.
Originally published in 1983.
The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These paperback editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.
Table of Contents

- Table of Maps
- pp. vii-viii
- Introduction
- pp. ix-xvi
- Part I
- 2. The Wanderers
- pp. 14-23
- 3. The Riots
- pp. 24-33
- Part II
- 1. Paris and the Idea of Conspiracy
- pp. 59-66
- 2. How the News was Spread
- pp. 67-74
- 5. The Peasant Revolts
- pp. 100-121
- 6.The Fear of Brigands
- pp. 122-134
- Part III
- 1. Characteristics of the Great Fear
- pp. 137-142
- 2. The Original Panics
- pp. 143-147
- 3. How the Panics Spread
- pp. 148-155
- 4. The Warning Panics
- pp. 156-162
- 5. The Relays
- pp. 163-169
- 6. The Currents of the Great Fear
- pp. 170-197
- 7. The Later Fears
- pp. 198-201
- 8. The Consequences of the Great Fear
- pp. 202-209
- Conclusion
- pp. 210-212
- Bibliographical Notes
- pp. 217-224
- Index of Place Names
- pp. 225-234