Overview
- Draws on hundreds of period records, interrogations, private letters, dossiers, religious and political pamphlets
- Explores the connection between growing nationalism and the expulsion of the Jesuits from France
- Takes a longue durée approach to the discourse on secrecy from the early eighteenth century to the Terror
Access this book
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Other ways to access
About this book
This book traces changing attitudes towards secrecy in eighteenth-century France, and explores the cultural origins of ideas surrounding government transparency. The idea of keeping secrets, both on the part of individuals and on the part of governments, came to be viewed with more suspicion as the century progressed. By the eve of the French Revolution, writers voicing concerns about corruption saw secrecy as part and parcel of despotism, and this shift went hand in hand with the rise of the idea of transparency. The author argues that the emphasis placed on government transparency, especially the mania for transparency that dominated the French Revolution, resulted from the surprising connections and confluence of changing attitudes towards honour, religious movements, rising nationalism, literature, and police practices. Exploring religious ideas that associated secrecy with darkness and wickedness, and proto-nationalist discourse that equated foreignness with secrecy, this book demonstrates how cultural shifts in eighteenth-century France influenced its politics. Covering the period of intense fear during the French Revolution and the paranoia of the Reign of Terror, the book highlights the complex interplay of culture and politics and provides insights into our attitudes towards secrecy today.
Similar content being viewed by others
Keywords
Table of contents (8 chapters)
-
Front Matter
-
Back Matter
Authors and Affiliations
About the author
Nicole Bauer is Assistant Professor of European History at the University of Tulsa in the USA. A cultural historian of early modern France, she is particularly interested in pulling threads from different directions to understand and uncover the cultural origins of political and social movements.
Bibliographic Information
Book Title: Tracing the Shadow of Secrecy and Government Transparency in Eighteenth-Century France
Authors: Nicole Bauer
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-12236-1
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan Cham
eBook Packages: History, History (R0)
Copyright Information: The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2023
Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-031-12235-4Published: 01 December 2022
Softcover ISBN: 978-3-031-12238-5Published: 01 December 2023
eBook ISBN: 978-3-031-12236-1Published: 30 November 2022
Edition Number: 1
Number of Pages: IX, 228
Number of Illustrations: 1 b/w illustrations
Topics: History of France, Political History, Cultural History, History of Religion, Social History, Gothic Studies