Some recommendations

[estellacat.livejournal.com]

I'm just stopping by to highly recommend the works of the historian Olivier Blanc, whose book Les hommes de Londres: Histoire secrète de la Terreur I'm in the process of reading. In this particular book, which has unfortunately not been translated into English (nor is it available for sale anywhere on the internet that I could find, despite its having come out in 1989!) Blanc makes a rather convincing argument for Barère's having been an agent paid by Pitt to undermine the Republic. I know that may sound on the paranoid side, but he has truckloads of documentation to prove it.

In any case, I believe the only books of Blanc's that have been translated into English are a book on 18th century architecture, which of course is not strictly related to the Revolution, and one called La dernière lettre: Prisons et condamnés de la Révolution, 1793-1793 and translated somewhat loosely as Last Letters: Prisons and Prisoners of the French Revolution, 1793-1794. I've only read excerpts from it, but from what I've read it seems worth recommending, especially as it's prefaced by Michel Vovelle.

From that particular book, I even have a picture for you, which you may not have seen before. (I know I hadn't.)


In case you can't read the caption - admittedly, it is a bit fuzzy - it says "Lucille Duplessis Epouse de Camille Desmoulins" or "Lucille Duplessis, wife of Camille Desmoulins."

My translation of Blanc's caption is, "'Good evening, my dear maman, a tear escapes from my eyes; it is for you. I am about to go to sleep in the calm of innocence.' Last note of Lucile Desmoulins, 13 April 1794. Writing and drawing (by Brune, the future marshal) conserved in the Historical Library of the City of Paris."

Also, on a completely unrelated note, read Timothy Tackett's Becoming a Revolutionary: The Deputies of the National Assembly and the Origins of the French Revolution. It is made of win.

Comments

[trf-chan.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the recs! :D I've seen the Last Letters book floating around before, and never bought it. Urgh. :( BUT I am getting Tackett's other book (When the King Took Flight) for Christmas.

[estellacat.livejournal.com]

Sure thing. ^_^ I can see why you might overlook that particular book; from the title alone it sounds like one of those books that bemoans the fate of the Innocent Victims of the Evil Revolutionaries (TM) - in fact, that's probably why it's his only book on the Revolution that's been translated into English - but of course, it's obviously not that at all. (For one thing, Blanc makes it pretty clear that the vast majority of them weren't innocent, even while humanizing them.)

You're going to love When the King Took Flight. Tackett is really just about the only American historian of which I can say this, but he's truly just awesome. ^__^

[trf-chan.livejournal.com]

from the title alone it sounds like one of those books that bemoans the fate of the Innocent Victims of the Evil Revolutionaries (TM)

XD That was exactly it! But now, I will be sure to buy it if I happen to see it again.

[estellacat.livejournal.com]

I figured as much; I probably would have had the same reaction. On the other hand though, it's a good way of tricking people who actually think that way into reading a Robespierriste historian! XD;

[trf-chan.livejournal.com]

Oooh, yes! That is true. >:D