Rousseau Burke & Revolution in France 1791

Rousseau, Burke, and Revolution in France, 1791 plunges students into the intellectual political and ideological currents that surged through revolutionary Paris in the summer of 1791. Part of the "Reacting to the Past" series, this text consists of elaborate games in which students are assigned roles, informed by classic texts, set in particular moments of intellectual and social ferment. Students are leaders of major factions within the National Assembly (and in the streets outside) as it struggles to create a constitution amidst internal chaos and threats of foreign invasion. This inexpensive text can be used on its own or as a supplementary text. Important historical readings, such as Jean-Jacques Rousseau's Social Contract and Edmund Burke's Reflections on the Revolution in France, among other texts, fuel student debates. "Reacting" improves speaking, writing and leadership skills, promotes engagement with classic texts and history, and builds learning communities. Students "run" each game, which includes multiple roles for classes. "Reacting" can be used for a wide variety of curricular and institutional purposes-as the foundation for a first-year general education, an upper-class "capstone" experience, the discussion component of a large lecture class, or be enlisted for intersession courses, honors programs, and other specialized curricular purposes.