Robespierre, Maximilien
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Virtue and Terror (Revolution!)
Maximilien Robespierre
Manufacturer: Verso
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ASIN: 184467584X |
Book Description
<B>In this dazzling new series, philosopher and cultural critic Slavoj Zizek interrogates key writings on revolution.</B><BR><BR>Robespierre's defense of the French Revolution remains one of the most powerful and unnerving justifications for political violence ever written, and has extraordinary resonance in a world obsessed with terrorism and appalled by the language of its proponents. Yet today, the French Revolution is celebrated as the event which gave birth to a nation built on the principles of enlightenment… So how should a contemporary audience approach Robespierre's vindication of revolutionary terror? Zizek takes a helter-skelter route through these contradictions, marshalling all the breadth of analogy for which he is famous.<BR><BR>"If the spring of popular government in time of peace is virtue, the springs of popular government in revolution are at once virtue and terror: virtue, without which terror is fatal; terror, without which virtue is powerless."—Robespierre
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- Robespierrism: Hell Paved with Good Intentions
- From Artois to the Guillitone
- No longer the Incorruptible
- How To "Get" Robespierre?
- A mirror of history....
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Fatal Purity: Robespierre and the French Revolution
Ruth Scurr
Manufacturer: Metropolitan Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: 0805079874
Release Date: 2006-04-18 |
Book Description
Since his execution by guillotine in July 1794, Maximilien Robespierre has been contested terrain for historians, at once the most notorious leader of the French Revolution and the least comprehensible. Was he a bloodthirsty charlatan or the only true defender of revolutionary ideals? Was his extreme moralismhe was known as The Incorruptiblea heroic virtue or a ruinous flaw? Was he the first modern dictator or the earliest democrat? Against the dramatic backdrop of the French Revolution, historian Ruth Scurr follows the trajectory of Robespierres paradoxical life, from his unprepossessing beginnings as a provincial lawyer opposed to repressive authority and the death penalty, to his meteoric rise in Paris politics as a devastatingly efficient revolutionary leader, righteous and paranoid in equal measure. She explores his reformist zeal, his role in the trial of the king and the fall of the monarchy, his passionate attempt to design a modern republic, even his extraordinary effort to found a perfect religion. And she follows him into the depths of the Terror, as he makes summary execution the order of the day, himself falling victim to the violence at the age of thirty-six. Written with epic sweep, full of nuance and insight, Fatal Purity is a fascinating portrait of a man who identified with the Revolution to the point of madness, and in so doing changed the course of history.
Customer Reviews:
Robespierrism: Hell Paved with Good Intentions .......2007-04-11
Ruth Scurr successfully manages to be neither overly critical nor too flattering in explaining Maximilien Robespierre to her readers. Scurr highlights the significant influence of the classical Greek and Roman tradition and the 18th century Enlightenment on Robespierre's intellect. Scurr also quotes Robespierre and his contemporaries to give her audience further insights into the complex, contradictory personality of the Incorruptible.
To his detractors, present and past, Robespierre was the first of a long list of modern dictators. Think for instance about the multiple purges over which dictators such as Adolf Hitler, Joseph Stalin, and Saddam Hussein presided during their respective reigns of terror. Terror increasingly became self-perpetuating and indiscriminate when Robespierre was at the apex of his power in 1793 - 1794. Robespierre, unable to compromise, convinced himself that he embodied France and the Revolution. Unsurprisingly, anyone who did not share his views was a traitor to France and therefore a counterrevolutionary who deserved death. Terror could only be stopped by Robespierre's own elimination.
To his supporters, present and past, Robespierre was the first modern democrat. Robespierre embraced the social contract theory of government that Jean-Jacques Rousseau propagated and the concept of republican virtue that Charles-Louis de Secondat (Montesquieu) advocated. Robespierre built a genuine reputation as the defender of the poor and weak in the different positions that he assumed, especially after the Revolution. Robespierre went far in his quest for power because he sincerely believed everything he was saying and convinced many people around him of his sincerity in working for the well-being of the Revolution.
Perhaps, more importantly, the fate of Robespierre is a stern warning to the revolutionaries of all stripes, present and future. Revolutions often devour their own children.
From Artois to the Guillitone.......2007-04-05
Most biographers either fall in love with their subject or villify them to the extreme. Ruth Schurr in this wonderfully crafted biography falls into neither trap. She lays out the history of this remarkable man and his role in the French revolution and lets the reader decide whether he was truly "incorruptible" or simply a bloodthirsty opportunist. In doing so, she presents a fascinating portrait of a man who changed the history of France and, in many ways, the world.
This is not an overly erudite or scholarly study of the man. Much in this book contains educated speculation, but the author doesn't feign to present it as anything more. It is an eminently readable account of the history of this period from the Revolutionary perspective. The writing style is engrossing and reads like a suspense novel with twist and turns as Maximillian one-by-one turns on his friends and enemies alike. I can't recommend this more highly and it is a good counterpoise to a book like "Road to Versailles" by Munro Price, which presents the royalist perspective.
A great initial offering from Ruth Scurr. I can't wait to get her next book.
No longer the Incorruptible.......2007-01-15
"That man will go far. He believes what he says."
It was Mirabeau, an astute politician in his own right, who recognized that Robespierre, when others regarded him as a "self righteous and hypocritical prig," was not what he first appeared to be.
Scurr does a remarkable job of uncovering those qualities which led to Robespierre's rise to power and of explaining the features of his personality which made his name virtually synonymous with bloodthirsty tyranny.
Lacking even a smidgen of charisma, a poor speaker, and paranoid even when he was still an obscure attorney in the provincial town of Arras, the young representative to the national Convention showed little evidence of ever achieving either fame or infamy. With the outbreak of the revolution, he had managed to get himself elected to the Convention, and from then on he perfected his political skills. Extemporaneous speeches were replaced by long and carefully prepared written ones. New allies were found and cultivated. He quickly surrounded himself with sycophants. Above everything else, he exuded patriotism.
But underlying it all was paranoia--the conviction that enemies of the state were hidden in every crack and crevice, that those enemies (in many instances the newspapers which didn't share his views) were selectively threatening him because of his loyalty to the new French Republic. To that was added his own reluctance to ever admit mistakes, doing so only by blaming others for having deceived him, for having given him false information. His answers were always the same. If a remedy failed, then increase the dosage. If the deaths of a dozen "enemies" (including many of his rivals) were replaced by two dozen more live ones, then two dozen deaths were the answer. If those did not suffice, then another escalation would be in order.
Only when his madness became so obvious that the members of his own party (the Jacobins) begin to feel threatened did the rising star fall from its zenith.
In the tradition of all honest biographers, Scurr presents both the good and evil aspects of her subject's personality. He was indeed a man moved by his principles, but sometimes he moved the principles to suit. Scurr insists that he justly earned the sobriquet of "incorruptible," but one can become corrupted by other than money. With Robespierre, power was the ingredient. His overweening quest for it, his absolute certainty that he was always in the right, his utter conviction that any who opposed him were enemies of the state and, finally, his paranoia--which virtually guaranteed that the power he achieved would be used in the most mindless fashion--corrupted him completely.
For anyone curious about this creature who emerged in the turbulent days of the French Revolution and went on to become synonymous with The Terror, this is a first-rate place for satisfying that curiosity.
How To "Get" Robespierre?.......2006-10-29
Scurr ends this volume with a poem by Wordsworth, noting how he is one of the first not to "get' Robespierre. I read this book to find out how to "get" an idealist who morphs into the opposite. This book is not the interpretive narrative I was seeking.
The beginning part that covers MR's childhood provides clues, and this is where the book is at its best. Scurr speculates on how his parental loss, his poverty, his "scholarship", his having to borrow clothes, his relations with his sister and brother might have molded his thinking. She writes about his early law practice and the stands he took. She writes about his election to the 3rd estate and what it might have meant for him and how his confidence grew. After this, the book becomes more narrative than interpretive.
For instance, MR started as an avowed death penalty opponent. Scurr shows his first change of heart was justifying the execution of the king. While she tells us why he said he came to this, she does not demonstrate HOW he came to this, nor his total betrayal his original stance.
There are many books of MR and the French Revolution. Contemporary biographers need to either unearth new facts, present a new interpretation or add dimension.
A mirror of history...........2006-09-22
A well researched and well written book on the life of Maximilien Robespierre. Considering the limited amount of information available on the subject, I found this book to be rather informative and not just another recycled version of an older book. Ruth Scurr delves into the conflicted mind of Robespierre and examines the French revolutionary's descent from man of the people to murderous tyrant. An excellent look at one of history's most misunderstood, yet fearful, figures. A fine example to anyone interested in understanding the value of using terror tactics in supplanting dictatorial rule.
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Robespierre and the French Revolution in World History (In World History)
Tom McGowen
Manufacturer: Enslow Publishers
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Binding: Library Binding
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ASIN: 0766013979 |
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- Impartiality
- Scholarly, and not for the faint-hearted
- Innovative format
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Life and Opinions of Maximilien Robespierre
Norman Hampson
Manufacturer: Duckworth Pub
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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ASIN: 071561083X |
Customer Reviews:
Impartiality.......2005-08-05
This book is one of the most impartial and un-biased accounts of Robespierre that I have read to date. Hampson takes the thoughts and doubts that any good historian has and turns them into a mode of imparting history itself. I do think that one should have at least a small basis in French Revolutionary history to fully appreciate this work; however I also think this should be an essential for any Revolutionary historian.
Scholarly, and not for the faint-hearted.......2004-09-04
This is a balanced and scholarly review of Robespierre, mindful of the limitations we have in access to sources on "the man" as opposed to the politician. The account takes an intriguing approach by using three questioners as an interactive audience, arguing with the historian Hampson right on the pages of the book. This avoids the judgmental one-sidedness that could be a risk of a one-person account of Robespierre. The one problem with the book is its presumption that the reader is thoroughly familiar with the chronology and context of the French Revolution. A non-historian -- like this reviewer -- can get lost in an avalanche of names: These refer to people who had a role somewhere in the revolutionary government, but remain without background and personality. On the other hand, monumental events such as the execution of King Louis XVI somehow glide by with nary a mention. It can be hard even to track what year we're in at a given episode in the book, not to mention the confusion of having revolutionary months such as Thermidor alternate with traditional calender denominations. Still, I felt educated and smarter after reading the book, thanks in part to the extensive references provided.
Innovative format.......2000-02-06
This book employs an innovative format to allow the reader to form his own opinion about Robspierre based on three different viewpoints without distorting the historical facts. Challenging and highly recommended
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- A masterpiece of literature!
- Fascinating
- Arrogance and paranoia
- Poor scholarship
- A Useless Muddle
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Robespierre: the voice of virtue
Otto J Scott
Manufacturer: Mason & Lipscomb
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Binding: Unknown Binding
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ASIN: 0884050831 |
Customer Reviews:
A masterpiece of literature!.......2003-12-09
This book is a fascinating account of one of the most tragic eras in world history. Otto Scott is an amazing historian.
Fascinating.......2003-09-04
I found this to be one of the most interesting, fascinating books I've ever read, and I am "chiming in" to try to offset so many of the reviews here that are negative. (One reviewer, I noted, used the word "dubious" to describe the historian Nesta Webster, causing me to wonder if he is critical of this book for reasons that are more ideological than historical, as might also some of the book's other critics.) This book is a fast, extremely interesting - and for the same reason, enjoyable - read. It makes this major event of history read like the sinking of the Titanic, and gives its reader an excellent overview of who the major players were and what actually happened, doing this by focusing on the career of its greatest monster, the leader whose execution brought the "Reign of terror" to an end. You may not agree with all of the author's commentary, as he does perceive that the popular atheistic idealism of that time was dangerous and baseless (this appears to be the main complaint of the book's critics here), but you will concede that he has told a tremendously interesting story in a tremendous way.
Arrogance and paranoia.......2002-02-28
Otto Scott's approach to Robespierre is a rather unusual one. He falls into the trap of using error-filled and discredited sources, but that is not unusual. Many writers on the French Revolution do that. What is strange is his attitude toward the goals of the Revolution. Most writers concede that the revolutionaires were sincerely hoping for the betterment of all French citizens. But Scott seems to have a thread of paranoia running throughout the entire book. His fear seems to be that the ordinary, working class Frenchman will now have the same rights as his "betters". His terror of mob rule is so intense that he cannot be in any way objective. The book has a great many mistakes and is at times unintentionally hilarious. Avoid it by all means unless you really know your history.
Poor scholarship.......2001-07-01
Mr. Scott betrays his lack of familiarity with the era, and instead rants for most of this book, which should be avoided by any serious readers
A Useless Muddle.......2001-04-05
I recently wrote a term paper on Robespierre using a dozen sources, some pro-Robespierre like Gallo and Rude, some balanced pro and con like Norman Hamspon and Thompson and some anti-Robespierre like Belloc. Then there are the off the wall zealots, who throw history to the wind and launch diatribes that ignore and totally distort history. This book by Otto Scott falls into this category. I found it usful only to point out in my paper how some people crudely try merely to manipulate facts and events to promote some half baked notions. It is really a total muddle.
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Robespierre: Portrait of a Revolutionary Democrat
George F. E Rude
Manufacturer: Collins
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ASIN: 0002167085 |
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Ending the Terror: The French Revolution after Robespierre (Msh)
Bronislaw Baczko
Manufacturer: Cambridge University Press
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ASIN: 0521441056 |
Book Description
Ending the Terror makes accessible for the first time to an English-speaking readership a major revisionist assessment of a crucial moment in the history of the French Revolution. The months that followed the fall of Robespierre in July 1794 mark not just a turning point in the history of the Revolution: "Thermidor" is also a symbolic moment that came to haunt the subsequent revolutions of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. By this date the Terror as a system of power was discredited, and the engineers of the Terror were confronting the problem of how to dismantle it without repudiating the aims of the Revolution itself and its work. Professor Baczko analyzes the Terror in detail through the political history of the French National Assembly, and looks at the broader issues of the political culture of Revolutionary France.
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Robespierre
J. M. Thompson
Manufacturer: Blackwell Pub
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Binding: Hardcover
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ASIN: 063115504X |
Customer Reviews:
OED of Robespierre.......2000-03-25
This is a mammoth book. Enormous! It looks like the Oxford English Dictionary... and there's a lot of infromation here. I wouldn't recommend reading it straight through-- it's a book for browsing. Although it's age (1920s) gives it an oddly antiquated tone, Thompson has written a fair biography of his subjsect, neither demonizing nor cannonizing the Incorruptible (although his assesment is generally favorable). The best thing about this gigantic work, however, is that Thompson has room to quote... extensively. This is where you can find the entire text of his Declaration of Rights, big chunks or speeches, etc. I wouldn't recommend buying it, but it's definitely worth a look in the library.
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