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I've just come across (whilst googling) a new book FOR CHILDREN called "Robespierre, Master of the Guillotine". The cover has what is easily the worst caricature of him I've ever seen (looking like a butch country squire), with the word 'Tyrant' graffiti'd across it in big blue letters, lest yer be in any doubt. It's in the 'Wicked History' series, which I presume is the U.S. equivalent of the G.B. 'Horrible Histories', and it looks like every damn library in the U.S. has a copy. It hasn't infested these shores yet, and there are no reviews on line, so, who knows, it may just be that it's using words like that as a marketing ploy to entice gore-minded children to read it, only to inform them in a lucid manner that Robespierre wasn't anything like the cackling baddie you see in all the films, etc..
But I doubt it.
But I doubt it.
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Date: 2008-05-29 01:36 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-05-29 02:18 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-05-29 02:28 pm (UTC)That's highly disturbing O_O The same goes for the book.
with the word 'Tryant' graffiti'd across it in big blue letters, lest yer be in any doubt.
Is there really necessary to set them up against Robespierre? You should think they already have a sufficient number of authorities to revolt against...
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Date: 2008-05-29 03:40 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-05-29 02:32 pm (UTC)I. Just. AGH.
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Date: 2008-05-29 03:47 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-05-29 04:49 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-05-30 05:00 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-05-29 02:56 pm (UTC)Is.
Just.
Not.
Possible.
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Date: 2008-05-29 03:54 pm (UTC)Someone here should write something on the Revolution for school-age readers to counteract this sort of thing. If only school libraries kept the Mark Steel book instead of this...in the U.K., the Mark Steel lectures are actually funded by the Adult Education Open University, and broadcast by BBC education - I don't know if that includes his Revolution book, though.
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Date: 2008-05-29 04:48 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-05-29 08:51 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-05-30 05:50 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-05-30 07:13 am (UTC)But actually, Horrible Histories are not *that* bad in terms of Thermidorian propaganda...though accuracy is another matter. As far as I know they don't have a book on the French Revolution, but I did manage to locate my old copy from when I was about seven of 'Rowdy Revolutions' and found the right section.
It could be worse. But this is their analysis of the causes of the Revolution:
"The poor peasants were forced to pay taxes they couldn't afford. Then they had an idea.
Peasant 1: Our American Friends had unfair taxes, didn't they? And they revolted and won!
Peasant 2: So why can't we French?"
On Marat's death: "A wise old proverb says, 'Those who live by the sword die by the sword.' And those who live by a bloodbath can sometimes die in a bloody bath. That's what happened to a leader of the French Revolution, Jean Paul Marat..."
Under the section on revolutionaries' last words: "French Revolutionary George Danton was just as daft. As he was led off to execution he cried, 'Take us to the guillotine now!' Well, they weren't going to take him off to a picnic in Paris, were they? Anyway, not everyone in his group of victims agreed! Danton's colleague, Desmoulins's famouls last words were not so brave. They were something like, 'Save us! Help! I don't want to die! Boo! Hoo!'"
OK, so that last bit is possibly essentially true. But...I don't know; I mean clearly he did not exactly go to his death bravely, but I always think it's a bit presumptuous of historians to criticise him for it. I mean, how brave do you think they'd be if they were going to the guillotine?
Actually, who votes we find out? We could start with whoever wrote that Master of the Guillotine book...Sorry. Not quite sure why I found it necessary to quote massive amounts of Horrible Histories. But have spent too much time typing it all up to want to delete it now...
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Date: 2008-05-30 07:36 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-05-30 01:55 pm (UTC)I love Horrible Histories; they practically began my interest in History, but let's hope they don't bring out a GB version of this rubbish. :(
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Date: 2008-05-30 07:39 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-05-31 12:46 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-05-31 07:25 am (UTC)