The Days of the French Revolution

Product Description

Works from
Les Misirables by Victor Hugo to
Citizens by Simon Schama have been inspired by the French Revolution. Now available for the first time in years,
The Days of the French Revolution brings to life the events that changed the future of Western civilization. As compelling as any fiction thriller, this real-life drama moves from the storming of the Bastille to the doomed court of Louis XVI, the salon of Madame Roland, and even the boudoir of Marie Antoinette. Hibbert recounts the events that swirled around Napoleon, Mirabeau, Danton, Marat, and Robespierre with eyewitness accounts and his “usual grace and flair for divulging interesting detail” (Booklist). This trade paperback edition has twenty-eight pages of black-and-white illustrations, and will be published in time for Bastille Day.

Amazon.com Review

“Never was any such event so inevitable yet so completely unforeseen.” ‘s 19th-century assessment of the French Revolution echoes the contemporary reaction to the monumental events that took place over 200 years ago. ‘s superb historical narrative
The Days of the French Revolution captures de Tocqueville’s immediacy but tempers it with the hindsight of history. Detailing events from the meeting of the Estates General at Versailles in 1789 to the coup d’état that brought Napoleon to power 10 years later,
The Days of the French Revolution captures the passion and ferocity motivating the events and the individuals that most dramatically shaped the Revolution.
Originally published in 1990, The Days of the French Revolution maintains its supremacy among the plethora of French Revolution histories. An acclaimed author of over 25 historical and biographical studies, Hibbert presents complexly related events in a logical, readable format and supplies plenty of historical background and detail without sacrificing clarity or narrative flow. He writes for the general reader unfamiliar with Revolution history, introducing them to individuals as diverse as Marie Antoinette, the young lawyer Danton, the journalist Marat, and the Girondin, sans-culotte and extremist Enragé political factions, weaving their fates together, and adeptly illustrating how they influenced the Revolution and how the Revolution, in turn, changed their lives. Maps, illustrations, a chronology of principle events, a glossary, and a list of major sources supplement Hibbert’s eight chronologically ordered chapters, and his prologue, which focuses on the reign of Louis XVI, sets the scene for the events of 1789. At the same time entertaining and informative, The Days of the French Revolution allows its readers to forget that they are reading a book of history. –Bertina Loeffler Sedlack

Review

“Mr. Hibbert is a remarkably good writer.” — Anatole Broyard, “The New York Times””Scene after scene with a dash appropriate to the onrushing events.” — “The New York Times Book Review”

About the Author

Christopher Hibbert, an Oxford graduate, has written more than fifty books, including
Wellington: A Personal History, London: The Biography of a City, Redcoats and Rebels, and
The Destruction of Lord Raglan. He lives with his family in Henley-on-Thames in Oxfordshire, England.