The Terror: The shadow of the guillotine: France 1792-1794 - Softcover

David Andres s' 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 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.