Robert Darnton's 'El temperamento revolucionario' Published in Spanish

Robert Darnton's latest book, 'El temperamento revolucionario. Cómo se forjó la Revolución francesa. París, 1748-1789' (2023), has been translated into Spanish and published by Taurus in Barcelona in 2025. The work argues that the French Revolution was not a sudden event but the culmination of tensions that built over five decades before the storming of the Bastille on July 14, 1789. Darnton, a leading scholar of 18th-century French cultural and political life, uses archival research to reconstruct everyday life in Paris from 1748, highlighting the contradictions between scientific progress and a stagnant political system. He traces a 'revolutionary temperament' through written records—pamphlets, plays, novels, satires, and caricatures—as well as oral traditions like popular songs and jokes. The book covers events such as the execution of Jean Calas and Voltaire's involvement in his case, the spread of fake news and court gossip under Louis XV, and the persecution of Protestants and Jesuits. Darnton emphasizes the role of culture across social classes amid violence, with censors targeting libelers while the king allied with a discontented bourgeoisie. The translation is by Jordi Ainaud i Escudero.