- Hardcover: 436 pages
- Publisher: Portrait (8 Jan 2004)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0749950056
- ISBN-13: 978-0749950057
- Product Dimensions: 23.6 x 16.2 x 4.4 cm
- Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 834,249 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- See Complete Table of Contents
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Product Description
Review
'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
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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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
Format:Hardcover
A very considerable degree of research has been carried out by Graeme Fife for this book - I was amazed at the scope and depth of the Terror that was visited upon the population of France during the years 1792 to 1794. What was particularly revealing is that the vast majority of those who were sent to the guillotine were ordinary citizens who fell foul of the draconian republican decrees and only about 6% were of noble birth. The leaders of the republican movement are depicted as a bloodthirsty and evil bunch, with Robspierre and Saint-Just at the top of the paranoid ruling pyramid.
The book is an excellent piece of work and ideal for anyone wishing to learn more than the standard school history outline of these years.
The book is an excellent piece of work and ideal for anyone wishing to learn more than the standard school history outline of these years.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
4 reviews
7 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Good Popular History
3 May 2007
Format:Hardcover
Graeme Fife's "The Terror" is a popularization of this horrific but fascinating subject. I mean that in a good way. This book lacks a traditional scholarly apparatus (i.e. footnotes) and is stronger on storytelling than analysis. Simon Schama's majestic Citizens: A Chronicle of the French Revolution is still the book to beat about the French Revolution. But if you perversely enjoy blood-chilling tales of political warfare and madness, as I do, you will like this book. Fife rolls out all the fearsome tales: the September massacres, the war against the Vendee, the political infighting that lead to the revolution devouring almost all its children. But Fife never loses sight of the dreadful human cost of the time: the shattered families, ruined lives and blasted populations and economy. When I finish a book like this I always thank heaven I live where I do, when I do. And hope we can learn the appropriate lessons about political humility, compromise, and, yes, charity.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Thrilling "terror"
17 Jan 2009
Format:Hardcover
I started reading this book before Christmas and before I knew it I was totally engrossed.
Fife does an excellent job of describing the madness of the Terror, and he skillfully weaves the actual voices (through letters etc) of the victims into the text.
Its an amazing story, and I found the book impossible to put down.
Also, Fife's prose made me turn purple with laughter in some places.. I think he is a very good writer... highly recommend it.
Fife does an excellent job of describing the madness of the Terror, and he skillfully weaves the actual voices (through letters etc) of the victims into the text.
Its an amazing story, and I found the book impossible to put down.
Also, Fife's prose made me turn purple with laughter in some places.. I think he is a very good writer... highly recommend it.
1 of 3 people found the following review helpful
A Lesson in History
4 Aug 2007
Format:Hardcover
A Lesson in History
In this Postmodern Age of "enlightenment and progress" one needs to reflect on the lessons taught by history.
So many recent scourges of populations of helpless human beings who have found themselves at the center of political and ethnic conflict might convince oneself to ponder its meaning.
To me, the horrors of Rwanda, Darfur, Iraq, Bosnia, Sierra Leone, South Africa, and many others, remain beyond understanding. So, in the midst of our modern-day national political scene, in the freest of all countries in the world, one can see the shadows of the ills that arise in those other outcomes.
The Terror: The Shadow of the Guillotine: France 1792--1794
This is the second newly published and fully researched book I have read on that subject.
The short-lived effort and ultimate failure of a people to obtain freedom from tyranny and unjust governance is one of horror and saturated with intrigue and betrayal.
It is completely astounding to me to think that the victory of the American Colonies over Great Britain in 1776 had only just been won less than two decades earlier!
Because by 1815, France had again reverted to a monarchy and who could have imagined the lives that would be fruitlessly sacrificed in that struggle for freedom?
The Terror: The Merciless War for Freedom in Revolutionary France by David Andress (Hardcover - Jan 10, 2006)
This was the first book I read, and it was also a detailed and scholarly work. Both books added to my understanding of the human condition.
By a careful study of the story of that struggle for freedom and their hope to live in a free society, these two books will open the eyes of the thoughtful reader to our present day world.
I highly recommend them both.
In this Postmodern Age of "enlightenment and progress" one needs to reflect on the lessons taught by history.
So many recent scourges of populations of helpless human beings who have found themselves at the center of political and ethnic conflict might convince oneself to ponder its meaning.
To me, the horrors of Rwanda, Darfur, Iraq, Bosnia, Sierra Leone, South Africa, and many others, remain beyond understanding. So, in the midst of our modern-day national political scene, in the freest of all countries in the world, one can see the shadows of the ills that arise in those other outcomes.
The Terror: The Shadow of the Guillotine: France 1792--1794
This is the second newly published and fully researched book I have read on that subject.
The short-lived effort and ultimate failure of a people to obtain freedom from tyranny and unjust governance is one of horror and saturated with intrigue and betrayal.
It is completely astounding to me to think that the victory of the American Colonies over Great Britain in 1776 had only just been won less than two decades earlier!
Because by 1815, France had again reverted to a monarchy and who could have imagined the lives that would be fruitlessly sacrificed in that struggle for freedom?
The Terror: The Merciless War for Freedom in Revolutionary France by David Andress (Hardcover - Jan 10, 2006)
This was the first book I read, and it was also a detailed and scholarly work. Both books added to my understanding of the human condition.
By a careful study of the story of that struggle for freedom and their hope to live in a free society, these two books will open the eyes of the thoughtful reader to our present day world.
I highly recommend them both.
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