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Searching... R.H. Stafford Library (Woodbury) | 909.81 BER | Searching... Unknown |
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Summary
Summary
Bernier provides us with a riveting chronicle of that time, so vastly different from our own yet so pregnant with meaning for us as we embark upon a new century. From Europe?s bloodstained landscape to the prosperous ports and homesteads of a nascent United States, from the Spanish dominions of Central and South America to the slave trading posts of Africa?s Gold Coast and the lavish interiors of China?s Forbidden City, Bernier takes us on a dizzying journey around the world, providing a finely textured portrait of civilization at the dawn of the modern era.
Author Notes
Olivier Bernier was born in the United States of French parents and was educated in Paris and at Harvard and the Institut of Fine Arts at New York University. He is the author of several critically acclaimed histories, including Fireworks at Dusk: Paris in the Thirties; Words of Fire, Deeds of Blood: The Mob, the Monarchy, and the French Revolution; and Louis XIV: A Royal Life. He has also taught art history and is widely acclaimed for his lectures at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.
Reviews (5)
Publisher's Weekly Review
French historian Bernier (Words of Fire, Deeds of Blood) surveys the globe at the turn of the 19th century and finds there the key to modern culture and politics. He writes (less than convincingly), "1800 is the beginning of our own era." He argues that the palaces and performance halls, salons and Senate chambers, colleges and churches of 1800 were home to great transformations that not only shaped the 19th century but the 20th as well. In China, a soaring population, an expanding economy and a revival of popular religion were all posing problems; the British Empire was taking root in India; the American government was just starting to flex its muscles. But for Bernier, the event with the widest-reaching consequences was the French Revolution; it told kings and queens across the world that the era of monarchical authority was over. At the same time, European culture, politics, art and design influenced cultural production and political change around the globe. Continental furniture and architecture were mimicked in Asia and the Americas, and citizens in Delaware and Dresden coveted Parisian cuisine. In contrast, Bernier's four chapters on North America do little more than rehearse familiar political stories about the XYZ Affair and the debate over federalism, and his 20-page treatment of Africa is even skimpier. As a result, although filled with good detail, the book hardly earns its title; Bernier is far more interested in 1789 (when the French Revolution heated up) and the years between 1760 and 1795 (when his cultural hero, Haydn, produced his greatest works) than in the events of 1800 itself. B&w illustrations. (Mar.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Kirkus Review
A sweeping, impressively argued portrait of the dawn of the modern age that is also the most ambitious work yet by French historian Bernier (Fireworks at Dusk, 1993, etc.). In 1800, Bernier notes, the ``Europeanization of the world'' was well underway: European ideas and European technology were stirring up change in almost every part of the globe and, even more vividly, European nations were extending their sway by conquest or economic dominance throughout Asia, Africa, and the Pacific. European conflicts were not, of course, anything new. But two events at the end of the 18th century'namely, the American and French revolutions'changed European politics forever and provided an enduring lesson for the wider world. The flourishing American republic provided a model of democratic government that would prove profoundly attractive and influential over the next two centuries, while the French revolution'larger, bloodier, and far more alarming'threw into question the 18th century's serene belief in the power of reason. It also served as the testing ground for a host of new institutions and ideas'state bureaucracies, standing national armies, new classes and social orders'and opened the way for the rise of Napoleon Bonaparte, who quickly became the single most influential figure on the continent. Bernier focuses on the twilight of the French Revolution and Napoleon's rise. He also devotes considerable space to tracing an outline of the fledgling years of the American republic, offering shrewd and original readings of Washington, Adams, and Jefferson. Although he is not, by and large, concerned with depicting the lives and experiences of the poor and laboring classes, Bernier is able to offer a panoramic portrait of the impact of new ideas on the world by focusing on leaders and thinkers and the events they precipitated. A distinguished work of popular history. (photos, maps, not seen)
Booklist Review
The world in 1800 can best be described as a world on the brink. The Industrial Revolution had begun, but its revolutionary dynamism and productive capacity had not been fully realized. Asian powers, including China and Japan, had tentative contacts with the West, but they had yet to feel the full brunt of the "new imperialism." Great Britain, France, and Spain were unified nation-states, while Italy and the Germanies remained mere geographic expressions. Bernier, a leading authority on French history, naturally views the world from a Western perspective. Yet he demonstrates surprising insight into non-European cultures, and he skillfully illustrates their links with worldwide trends. He offers often fascinating tidbits concerning the lives of diverse characters, including Napoleon, Jefferson, and Goethe. This is an absorbing work of popular history that skillfully examines societies about to endure cataclysmic changes. --Jay Freeman
Choice Review
Bernier's work is a survey of the world around the year 1800 and, commendably, the author does mean the entire world. Only 125 of its 420 pages are on Europe, with another 100 on North America, leaving about half the book for the parts of the world commonly neglected in Western civilization courses (or even many world civilization courses). The book is necessarily superficial, given its brevity and scope, but it gives a rapid rundown that could be helpful to general readers and to beginning college students. Its biggest drawback is that there is little cross-referencing between chapters, so the reader gets little sense of the interconnections among the regions covered. Conventional scholarly apparatus is also sparse--skimpy chapter notes and a brief bibliography (with very few entries published after 1980). Professional scholars will find little in it to their interest, and they will no doubt quibble about the author's expertise in most fields; he is not an academic historian. The work is interestingly written, but, given its likely readership, woefully lacking in illustrations and maps. The index seems thorough. General readers; undergraduates. M. Cherno; University of Virginia
Library Journal Review
Bernier, an authority on French history, lecturer at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and author of Fireworks at Dusk: Paris in the Thirties, has written a panoramic history of the state of the world in 1800, a year he feels marks the beginning of our current age. In Europe and the New World, democratic principles were beginning to gain ground over the absolutism of the past, and the industrial revolution was starting to alter the lives of people all around the world as it contributed to the uneven balance of power that would see Europe and the United States achieve hegemonic power by century's end. In 1800, one could still find reminders of the old order both in Europe and the rest of the world. But a perceptive observer would also have been able to glimpse the beginnings of the modern world. Bernier looks at the effects of world trade, colonialism, governmental policies, and revolution on each continent, marvelously drawing together the work of various specialists. With Bernier's flair for historical stage-setting, this very readable history will be of interest to general readers and students alike. Recommended for academic and public libraries.--Robert J. Andrews, Duluth P.L. MN (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Table of Contents
| Preface |
| Acknowledgments |
| Introduction |
| Two Worlds |
| One World |
| EUROPE |
| A Very Great Change |
| All the Pleasures of Life |
| Unbeatable Bonaparte |
| Great Britain and France |
| Eastern Europe |
| Dealing with France |
| NORTH AMERICA |
| Inventing Politics |
| Quasi-War and Dangerous Aliens |
| A Vast New Country |
| The Spirit of 1800 |
| ANOTHER AMERICA |
| New Spain, Old Habits |
| Autonomy or Independence? |
| Peru and Brazil |
| ASIA |
| The Center of the World |
| A Civilized Empire |
| Splendid Japan |
| India: The Invention of an Empire |
| The Middle East: The Ottoman Empire |
| AFRICA. So Close, So Far. Afterword |
| Notes |
| Bibliography |
| Index |
