Tackett, Timothy 1945-

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TACKETT, Timothy 1945-

PERSONAL: Born August 30, 1945, in Santa Monica, CA; married, 1998. Education: Pomona College, B.A., 1967; Stanford University, M.A., 1969, Ph.D., 1973.

ADDRESSES: Offıce—Department of History, University of California, 244 Murray Krieger Hall, Irvine, CA 92697. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER: Professor of French history. Marquette University, assistant professor, 1974-79; Catholic University, professor, 1979-88; University of California—Irvine, professor, 1988—.

MEMBER: Society for French History Studies; French Historical Society, Societe des etudes robespierriestes.

AWARDS, HONORS: Shea Prize, 1978; Phi Alpha Theta Award, 1978; American Philosophers Society research grant, 1975, 1981; Fulbright fellow, 1982-83; Koren Prize, 1983; Chester Higby Prize, 1984; Guggenheim Foundation fellow, 1986-87; Camargo Foundation fellow, 1987; Woodrow Wilson International Center Guest Scholar, 1988; National Endowment for the Humanities fellow, 1990-91; presidential fellow, University of California, 1996-97; Leo Gershoy Prize, 1998; National Humanities Center Fellow, 2000.

WRITINGS:

Priest and Parish in Eighteenth-Century France: ASocial and Political Study of the Curés in a Diocese of Dauphiné, 1750-1791, Princeton University Press (Princeton, NJ), 1977.

Religion, Revolution, and Regional Culture inEighteenth-Century France: The Ecclesiastical Oath of 1791, Princeton University Press (Princeton, NJ), 1986.

Becoming a Revolutionary: The Deputies of the FrenchNational Assembly and the Emergence of a Revolutionary Culture, Princeton University Press (Princeton, NJ), 1996.

When the King Took Flight, Harvard University Press (Cambridge, MA), 2003.

Contributor to Revolutionary Demands: A Content Analysis of the Cahiers de Doléances of 1789, by Gilbert Shapiro, Stanford University Press, 1998, and The Terror, edited by K. Baker, 1994; also author of "The West in France in 1789: The Religious Factor in the Origins of the Counterrevolutions," in Journal of Modern History, 1982; "Women and Men in Counterrevolutions," in Journal of Modern History, 1987; "Nobles and Third Estate in the Revolutionary Dynamic of the National Assembly: 1789-1790," in American Historical Review, 1989.

SIDELIGHTS: Historian Timothy Tackett has published works primarily focusing on two aspects of French history: the religious culture that existed prior to and during the French Revolution, and identifying the origins of revolution and revolutionary violence. He has become known for his detailed, scrupulous research using archival material, which has advanced the understanding of individual experiences during the Revolution. The latter work has connected Tackett with a postrevisionist movement that de-emphasizes the importance of class conflict in the early days of the Revolution. Tackett has also written a dramatic narrative account of Louis XVI's attempted escape from France in 1791, which the author identifies as the key event in turning popular sentiment against the king. His most recent research looks for the roots of Terrorist mentality in revolutionary France.

Tackett's first book, Priest and Parish in Eighteenth-Century France: A Social and Political Study of the Curés in a Diocese of Dauphiné, 1750-1791, is based on research on the rural parish clergy of the diocese of Gap. He details the social, economic, and educational background of these priests, their relationships with the peasantry, and their politicization and role in the Revolution. Reviewers were impressed by Tackett's thorough research and careful presentation, though not by the inherent drama of the subject. In the New York Review of Books, C. B. A. Behrens commended the "admirable clarity and precision" of the description of the curés' background, but noted that the book "explodes no myths and opens up no new vistas." John McManners remarked in the Times Literary Supplement that "if the story lacks colour, it is remarkably complete." McManners found the work's most notable component to be "the quantitative analysis of the recruitment and 'career patterns' of the clergy." A Choice reviewer called it "a fine and thorough" study, one that would be of interest to "several kinds of historians." A writer for the American Historical Review noted that Tackett "makes a compelling case . . . for the uniqueness of the politicization of the curés of Gap and their organized resistance in the pre-Revolutionary period."

The entire French clergy is the subject of Tackett's next book, Religion, Revolution, and Regional Culture in Eighteenth-Century France: The Ecclesiastical Oath of 1791. In this work, Tackett takes a statistical approach to finding regional differences in religious culture and related reactions to the demand that priests take an oath of loyalty to the state. Reviewers applauded this vast undertaking. Calling it a "prodigious feat of research and analysis," McManners commented in the English Historical Review that "the lengthy conclusion is compulsory reading for all students of eighteenth-century France" and concluded, "A review cannot hope to describe or reflect the richness of the whole scene which he portrays." In the American Historical Review, Michael J. Sydenham called Tackett's work "magisterial in judgment and fascinating in detail." The book was characterized as "excellent social history, combining quantification with collective biography and illuminating all by frequent references to the lives of individuals."

The lives of revolutionaries as revealed by diaries and letters is the heart of Becoming a Revolutionary: The Deputies of the French National Assembly and the Emergence of a Revolutionary Culture. Using writings relating to 129 individuals, Tackett shows that the deputies, collectively known as the Third Estate, were culturally, economically, and socially different from their counterparts from the nobility. He also emphasizes their practical rather than theoretical leanings in their search for political change.

Tackett's methods and conclusions excited reviewers. William Doyle remarked in the Journal of Modern History, that the author "has unearthed far more evidence about the views of the members of the National Assembly than anybody before him" and concluded, "It is not so much the revisionists who suffer from his findings, in fact, as the postrevisionists who have abandoned social analysis almost entirely." In the Journal of Interdisciplinary History, Sarah Maza called it a "superbly researched and cautiously argued book." In the Canadian Journal of History, Leigh Whaley recommended the book to readers other than revolutionary specialists, noting "[Tackett's] welcome approach is to get away from broad theories about causes. . . . it is in many ways concerned with motivation, collective psychology, and the reasons why men become revolutionaries." And in the Journal of European Studies, Christopher Todd judged that the book "dispels many previously-held misconceptions and gives a very intimate view of human beings learning to cope with momentous events."

With the narrative history When the King Took Flight, Tackett uses a different style of writing to present his theory that Louis XVI still had public support when he tried to escape France in 1791. The author dramatically recounts how the king traveled in a fancy coach hoping to reach the Austrian Netherlands, where he planned to lead a counterattack. But Louis was stopped just shy of his destination by the people of Varennes, an event that shocked the French citizenry. The mood in France escalated from moderate concern to hysteria, leading to the declaration of the Republic and Louis's execution.

Reviewers recommended When the King Took Flight as a fascinating book that would appeal to a wide audience. In Library Journal, Jim Doyle called Tackett "a lucid writer" and one who "presents his unique thesis in a scholarly and lively style." A Publishers Weekly critic wrote that the book was "a highly accessible popular history that should appeal to those wanting to learn more about one of the central events of the French Revolution." A Kirkus Reviews critic noted that the author "cogently sketches the two principals and displays a fine historian's eye for engaging detail." The writer added, "Even more compelling than his account of the escape, however, is Tackett's analysis of its myriad effects." In a review for Booklist, Brad Hooper described the book as having an "almost thriller-novel-like tension" and said that "approachable style, clear ideas, and excellent pacing guarantee general readership interest."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

American Historical Review, April, 1978, review of Priest and Parish in Eighteenth-Century France: A Social and Political Study of the Curés in a Diocese of Dauphiné, 1750-1791, p. 450; June, 1987, Michael J. Sydenham, review of Religion, Revolution, and Regional Culture in Eighteenth-Century France: The Ecclesiastical Oath of 1791, p. 678.

Booklist, December 1, 2002, Brad Hooper, review of When the King Took Flight, p. 643.

Canadian Journal of History, December, 1997, Leigh Whaley, review of Becoming a Revolutionary: The Deputies of the French National Assembly and the Emergence of a Revolutionary Culture, p. 461.

Choice November, 1977, review of Priest and Parish in Eighteenth-Century France, p. 1236.

English Historical Review, July, 1988, John McManners, review of Religion, Revolution, and Regional Culture in Eighteenth-Century France, pp. 688-692.

Journal of European Studies, December, 1996, Christopher Todd, review of Becoming a Revolutionary, p. 489.

Journal of Interdisciplinary History, summer, 1997, Sarah Maza, review of Becoming a Revolutionary, p. 112.

Journal of Modern History, December, 1997, William Doyle, review of Becoming a Revolutionary, p. 852.

Kirkus Reviews, December 15, 2002, review of When the King Took Flight, p. 1834.

Library Journal, February 1, 2003, Jim Doyle, review of When the King Took Flight, p. 102.

New York Review of Books, September 29, 1977, C. B. A. Behrens, review of Priest and Parish in Eighteenth-Century France, p. 32.

Publishers Weekly, January 27, 2003, review of When the King Took Flight, p. 245.

Times Literary Supplement September 9, 1977, John McManners, review of Priest and Parish in Eighteenth-Century France, p. 1073; February 13, 1987, William Scott, review of Religion, Revolution, and Regional Culture in Eighteenth-Century France, p. 158.