History at the Roundabout

Abstract

The Gilets jaunes brought attention to the existence and demands of the popular classes as other than the deplorables of the far right. This essay examines the ideas of an innovative group of historians who interpret the Gilets jaunes as evoking and enacting the unresolved issues of the revolutions of 1789, 1848, and 1871 on the nature and practice of democracy in France.