Traumatic Politics

Contents

Acknowledgments

Introduction

Prologue to Part I

1. Arrival in Versailles

2 .The King and His Evil Advisers

3. Defiance at the Jeu de Paume

4. The Royal Session of 23 June

5. The Réunion of 27 June

6. The July Crisis

7. The Immediate Aftermath of the July Crisis

Prologue to Part II

8. An Incident at the Abbaye

9. The Passage of the Suspensive Veto

10. Mirabeau and the Exclusion of Deputies from the Ministry

11. Royal Military Power and the Lingering Effects of Trauma

Conclusion

Selected Bibliography

Index

“Traumatic Politics is an important book that expands current understanding of the Constituent Assembly. Shapiro is undoubtedly correct in recognising and attempting to explain the deputies’ ambivalent and constantly shifting attitudes toward Louis XVI. His sophisticated and careful analysis of the representatives’ letters and diaries and the assembly proceedings provides considerable insight into the deputies’ attitudes toward the king. His interpretation of the important political debates regarding monarchical authority is illuminating. . . . He has demonstrated the extent of the deputies’ fear of royal retribution in the early summer of 1789. He makes a convincing case that one cannot discount the memory of this experience in explaining the deputies’ conduct in the Constituent Assembly.”

—Kenneth Margerison, French History