Glory and Terror is a vivid and often gory history of the darker side of the French Revolution. Through an examination of contemporary visual and literary representations of executions, funerals, processions and ceremonies it brings the often horrific events of the time to life. Honing in on seven real life cases, the author recounts and interprets: * the public autopsy performed on the corpse of Mirabeau * the exhumation and transportation of Voltaire's body to the Pantheon * the public torture, murder and subsequent mutilation of the Princesse de Lamballe * the agonizingly slow death of Robespierre. Anyone who enjoys dazzling cultural history in the vein of Robert Darnton, Carlo Ginzburg and Anthony Grafton will revel in this intelligent and original work.

About the Author

Antoine de Baecque is Professor of History at the University of Saint Quentin in Yvelynes, France and author of several studies of France during the Revolution, including The Body Politic: CorporealMetaphor in Revolutionary France . He serves as editor of the Cahiers du cinemaand is co-author of the biography, Truffaut, published by Knopf (1999).

Reviews

"A brilliant and fascinating book. De Baecque's historical method is original and provocative. His insights into the French Revolution are startling and fresh. And when it comes to the ghoulish recesses of the revolutionary imagination, he is one of the best guides since that contemporary expert in the macabre subject, the Marquis de Sade." -- The New Republic
"Rewarding strong-stomached readers with a riveting tale, Glory and Terror limns the era at a visceral level." -- The Chronicle of Higher Education

Book Information
ISBN 9780415926171
Author Antoine de Baecque
Format Paperback
Page Count 248
Imprint Routledge
Publisher Taylor & Francis Ltd
Weight(grams) 460g