Just through Chapter 1 and already he's put some very basic background in context in a way that I can wrap my brain around -- how for the French, participating in the American Revolution brought the concept of patriotism out of the realm of the theoretical and historical into something that could be applied to their lives and used for their own purposes. Maybe I'm dense, but having that spelled out for me put a whole bunch of cause-and-effect into perspective. I think he's good at that. And I will keep reading, because this is very interesting stuff and it goes down easily.

Oh yay, Kate -- I'm stoked you're reading it too.

I've only read the prologue so far, where he's mostly laying out the way he intends to cover the subject matter -- which is to say narratively, rather than sociologically, looking at it as a story with characters rather than a series of theories or areas of study. That's what attracted me to the book in the first place, and what I like about Schama as a historian. Now you've got me all hot to get to Chapter 1.

So: If I read chapter a week, eventually I'll learn all about the French Revolution. Right now I don't know jack on the subject, and since I love Simon Schama and found this on the cheap today, it could work. And if I don't end up doing it and my reach has exceeded my grasp, it'll give me something harmless to feel guilty about.

At a chapter a week, this should take me about a year. It's a BIG mf book.