Document Type

Book Review

Abstract

Il était une fois… Once Upon a Time, edited by Marine Ranouil and Nicholas Dissaux, inhabits the most tempting theory of Gramscian hegemony: Law codifies the people’s desires, especially those imparted to them through books; through the written word. Reading it brought to mind Bertrand Barère and his explanation of the French Revolution of 1789. Books did it all because they brought enlightenment into all classes of society. This seems pretentious and partially inaccurate. The Revolution was also ignited by filth and hunger, which made the masses part with their innate fear of death and bravely fight for such abstractions as the Rights of Men.

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