Book summary

A French critic examines several powerful stories of brutal murder during the French revolution--of Mirabeau, Voltaire, Louis XVI, a locksmith, and others--and shows how their bodies, often mutilated, took on a highly charged political significance that was almost religious in its fervor and intensity. De Baecque examines the telling of these stories as they appeared in print, in pamphlets, and in newspapers of the time.

Media reviews

"A brilliant and fascinating book....[With] an awkward and error-laden translation...De Baecque's French is not always easy....But his writing is usually fluid and often elegant....Readers interested in an example of the best history currently being written in France may still want to give GLORY & TERROR a try. De Baecque's historical method is original and provocative."