Even if we pass over the distortions of the historical record at work here, the interpretation gives us no real way to understand the events of the revolution. What was it that motivated the revolutionaries to seek "to change material inequities, social relations and ways of life", as Hazan summarises their goals?
...Hazan is a keen observer with a remarkable memory: despite his limitations, he has written an unmissable account of Paris’s unique and defiant physiognomy.