This second volume of Hippolyte Taine’s The Modern Regime continues his influential analysis of French society and institutions as reshaped by the Revolution and Napoleon. Part of his monumental study The Origins of Contemporary France, it examines the structures of the modern French state, including its administration, church, and systems of education.
Taine writes as a major historian and critic, marshaling detail and analysis to argue his interpretation of how modern France was formed. His treatment of education and the centralized institutions of the Napoleonic order is of particular interest. For readers concerned with French history, political thought, and the development of modern state institutions, this volume offers a substantial and penetrating, if controversial, study.