The French revolts of May 1968, the largest general strike in twentieth-century Europe, were among the most famous and colourful episodes of the twentieth century. Julian Bourg argues that during the subsequent decade the revolts led to a remarkable paradigm shift in French thought - the concern for revolution in the 1960s was transformed into a fascination with ethics.
Challenging the prevalent view that the 1960s did not have any lasting effect, From Revolution to Ethics demonstrates that intellectuals and activists turned to ethics as the touchstone for understanding interpersonal, institutional, and political dilemmas. In absorbing and scrupulously researched detail Bourg explores the developing ethical fascination as it emerged among student Maoists courting terrorism, anti-psychiatric celebrations of madness, feminists mobilizing against rape, and pundits and philosophers championing human rights.
Based on newly accessible archival sources and over fifty interviews with men and women who participated in the events of the era, From Revolution to Ethics provides a compelling picture of how May 1968 helped make ethics a compass for navigating contemporary global experience
Review quotes
"This is a terrific book. No study of May 1968 - and they are legion - matches From Revolution to Ethics in combining impeccable historical research and scholarly judiciousness with an incessant underlying passion for the ethical project, complexly understood." Peter Starr, French and comparative literature, University of Southern California, author of Logics of Failed Revolt
"In the valuable tradition of intellectual history, this book is a unique and fascinating analysis of difficult French thinkers and their movements." Michael Seidman, history, University of North Carolina, author of The Imaginary Revolution: Parisian Students and Workers in 1968
“An engrossing work, profound, thoughtful, and well written”
J. Szaluta, emeritus, United States Merchant Marine Academy, CHOICE
Students of contemporary French society, politics and thought should find this an enriching and thoughtprovoking study.
Keith Reader, Glasgow University
Julian Bourg is assistant professor of history, Bucknell University, and editor of After the Deluge: New Perspectives on the Intellectual and Cultural History of Postwar France.
