Phantom Terror: Political Paranoia and the Creation of the Modern State, 1789-1848

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This book never seems to find its footing. It explores Europe after the beginning of the French Revolution, up to the Revolutions of 1848. While the book’s subtitle says it is about political paranoia and the creation of the modern nation state, it is partially right about the political paranoia, but it does not cover how this led to the creation of the modern nation state. The French Revolution led to a great upheaval in European society, and governments were quick to react. How they reacted differed from country to country. This book explores how various governments responded to these so-called revolutionary movements, and their efforts to stop them. It mainly focuses on Austria, Russia, and France, with some coverage of Britain. It goes through the main players, and the police forces they set up to sniff out these threats. The rulers of these countries oftentimes implemented harsh, and repressive, measures. This book is just off from the beginning; I never could figure out where the author was going. I was always wondering how this all led to the creation of the modern nation state, but the book does not go there.


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Author
Star Count 2/5
Format Hard
Page Count 592 pages
Publisher Basic Books
Publish Date 2015-Feb-10
ISBN 9780465039890
Bookshop.org Buy this Book
Issue March 2015
Category History
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