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'David Andress' important new book is a major contribution in our efforts to rethink the French Revolution . . . It is also exceptionally well-written' Timothy Tacket, author of BECOMING A REVOLUTIONARY AND WHEN THE KING TOOK FLIGHT 'Commendably fair and even-handed . . . A lucid study' Munro Price, SUNDAY TELEGRAPH 'The most authoritative treatment we are likely to have for many years' William Doyle, INDEPENDENT 'A meticulous account . . . stands beside Simon Schama's Citizens' LITERARY REVIEW 'A superbly written and scholarly analysis . . . a beautifully crafted work' SUNDAY HERALD 'Compelling' SCOTLAND ON SUNDAY 'Endlessly fascinating . . . David Andress has made a serious contribution to this central subject of our times with an accessible account' THE TIMES 'A gripping account' GUARDIAN '[S]cholarly yet accessible. Structured chronologically, not thematically, the book is refreshingly old-fashioned and has an excellent glossary, notes and index. Andress's prose is crisp and clear' THE TIMES
Yet another visit to those sanguinary years when heads rolled, blood flowed and people cheered.In his first book, BBC Radio writer Fife eschews most of the traditional conventions of scholarship and simply retells the sad, horrifying story. Readers interested in the sources of his many quotations, some as long as two pages, will look in vain for foot- or endnotes. Still, the author writes with skill, confidence and considerable wit, displaying a shrewd instinct for the important detail, the ironic twist and the poignant moment. Fife begins on July 11, 1793, with the assassination of Marat, stabbed in his bath by the distraught Marie-Charlotte de Corday. The author then returns to the Revolution's early, hopeful days, examining its proximate causes (the horrible harvest of 1788 among them), its signal events (the storming of the Bastille, the beheadings of the king and queen) and the rise of a new generation of anti-royalist leaders. Fife spends some time assessing the situation in the Vendee, a region that wished to adhere to its king and its religion and paid for this folly by suffering unspeakable brutalities. The author frequently pauses to tell small, mostly appalling stories about minor characters who found themselves dragged to the guillotine for reasons ranging from clerical error to an intemperate remark in a dress shop. The tale's dark hero, of course, is Robespierre, who first appears in the book's opening pages and is rarely offstage thereafter. The narrative ends with his grisly demise: a botched suicide that left his face a ruin, followed by 17 hours of agony that ended only at the guillotine, the "national razor" whose operations the prissy, self-righteous lawyer and architect of terror had not previously witnessed. Fife properly notes an awful irony: The Terror's leaders claimed to love "the people," but did not much care for actual breathing ones.A well-written summary, though nothing revolutionary. (Kirkus Reviews)
Product Description
A powerful and frightening account - based on fresh research and eye-witness accounts - of the great Terror that swept France after the Revolution of 1789. From early 1793 to the summer of 1794, the young French Republic was subject to a reign of institutionalised terror which grew ever more bloodthirsty and paranoid in its actions. Personified by Robespierre and the 'Angel of Death', Saint-Just, the Terror convulsed and very nearly ruined France - until they too met their fate under the guillotine. That extraordinary period - in many ways the precursor of Stalin's Great Terror of the 1930s - is vividly re-created by Graeme Fife. He has used contemporary documents, eye-witness accounts, and reports from the dreaded Committee of Public Safety, to show the atmosphere of fear, suspicion and betrayal that gripped France. But amidst the horror there was also great heroism and pathos - the author includes heartbreaking letters written by those awaiting execution.
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'David Andress' important new book is a major contribution in our efforts to rethink the French Revolution . . . It is also exceptionally well-written' Timothy Tacket, author of BECOMING A REVOLUTIONARY AND WHEN THE KING TOOK FLIGHT 'Commendably fair and even-handed . . . A lucid study' Munro Price, SUNDAY TELEGRAPH 'The most authoritative treatment we are likely to have for many years' William Doyle, INDEPENDENT 'A meticulous account . . . stands beside Simon Schama's Citizens' LITERARY REVIEW 'A superbly written and scholarly analysis . . . a beautifully crafted work' SUNDAY HERALD 'Compelling' SCOTLAND ON SUNDAY 'Endlessly fascinating . . . David Andress has made a serious contribution to this central subject of our times with an accessible account' THE TIMES 'A gripping account' GUARDIAN '[S]cholarly yet accessible. Structured chronologically, not thematically, the book is refreshingly old-fashioned and has an excellent glossary, notes and index. Andress's prose is crisp and clear' THE TIMES
Yet another visit to those sanguinary years when heads rolled, blood flowed and people cheered.In his first book, BBC Radio writer Fife eschews most of the traditional conventions of scholarship and simply retells the sad, horrifying story. Readers interested in the sources of his many quotations, some as long as two pages, will look in vain for foot- or endnotes. Still, the author writes with skill, confidence and considerable wit, displaying a shrewd instinct for the important detail, the ironic twist and the poignant moment. Fife begins on July 11, 1793, with the assassination of Marat, stabbed in his bath by the distraught Marie-Charlotte de Corday. The author then returns to the Revolution's early, hopeful days, examining its proximate causes (the horrible harvest of 1788 among them), its signal events (the storming of the Bastille, the beheadings of the king and queen) and the rise of a new generation of anti-royalist leaders. Fife spends some time assessing the situation in the Vendee, a region that wished to adhere to its king and its religion and paid for this folly by suffering unspeakable brutalities. The author frequently pauses to tell small, mostly appalling stories about minor characters who found themselves dragged to the guillotine for reasons ranging from clerical error to an intemperate remark in a dress shop. The tale's dark hero, of course, is Robespierre, who first appears in the book's opening pages and is rarely offstage thereafter. The narrative ends with his grisly demise: a botched suicide that left his face a ruin, followed by 17 hours of agony that ended only at the guillotine, the "national razor" whose operations the prissy, self-righteous lawyer and architect of terror had not previously witnessed. Fife properly notes an awful irony: The Terror's leaders claimed to love "the people," but did not much care for actual breathing ones.A well-written summary, though nothing revolutionary. (Kirkus Reviews)
Product Description
A powerful and frightening account - based on fresh research and eye-witness accounts - of the great Terror that swept France after the Revolution of 1789. From early 1793 to the summer of 1794, the young French Republic was subject to a reign of institutionalised terror which grew ever more bloodthirsty and paranoid in its actions. Personified by Robespierre and the 'Angel of Death', Saint-Just, the Terror convulsed and very nearly ruined France - until they too met their fate under the guillotine. That extraordinary period - in many ways the precursor of Stalin's Great Terror of the 1930s - is vividly re-created by Graeme Fife. He has used contemporary documents, eye-witness accounts, and reports from the dreaded Committee of Public Safety, to show the atmosphere of fear, suspicion and betrayal that gripped France. But amidst the horror there was also great heroism and pathos - the author includes heartbreaking letters written by those awaiting execution.
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