George Lefebvre

George Lefebvre was a prominent historian of the French Revolution but there is some controversy surrounding his work.  His social, or Marxist interpretation of the Revolution has been challenged as well as his political allegiances.  At one point in his career, Lefebvre was the foremost authority on the study of the French Revolution.  Because he was a specialist in the study of French peasantry, he wrote about the revolution from that point of view.  His career stumbled a bit during WWII when his books were put on the "banned" list because his writings were thought to promote French nationalism.  Then in 1954 a professor and revisionist from the University of London named Alfred Cobban challenged Lefebvre by criticizing him for examining the Revolution from a single-sided view.  Subsequent historians have questioned Lefebvre's social interpretations of the French Revolution and have introduced new ways of looking at the event.  The article raises the question as to exactly how much an historian is influenced by his or her current political environment.