The day of 9 Thermidor (July 27, 1794) is universally acknowledged as a major turning-point in the history of the French Revolution.
At 12:00 midnight, Maximilien Robespierre, the most prominent member of the Committee of Public Safety, which had for more than a year directed the Reign of Terror, was planning to destroy one of the most dangerous plots that the Revolution had faced.
By 12:00 midnight at the close of the day, following a day of uncertainty, surprises, upsets, and reverses, his world had been turned upside down. He was an outlaw, on the run, and himself wanted for conspiracy against the Republic. He felt that his whole life and his Revolutionary career were drawing to an end--as indeed they were. He shot himself shortly afterwards. Half-dead, the guillotine finished him off in grisly fashion the next day.
The Fall of Robespierre provides an hour-by-hour analysis of these twenty-four hours.
About the Author :
Colin Jones CBE is professor of history at Queen Mary University of London. He has published widely on French history, particularly on the eighteenth century, the French Revolution, and the history of medicine. His many books include Paris: Biography of a City, winner of the 2004 Enid MacLeod Prize. He is a Fellow of the British Academy and past president of the Royal Historical Society.
Sasha Higgins is a classically trained actress and voice artist. She was born in Hong Kong and raised in Hampshire, England, and Detroit, Michigan. She majored in creative writing and French at the University of Michigan, where she won a Hopwood Award for her writing and then attended the American Academy of Dramatic Arts. She has performed on the West End, at the Geffen, and off-Broadway. She has starred in numerous independent films and voiced the role of Miranda in The Tempest for BBC Radio 4. She currently lives in Venice, California, with her husband, Ethan, and two rescue dogs.
Review :
"A single historical day gathers force and immediacy with Sasha Higgins's passionate delivery...Higgins's ease and command of French flavor the narrative and...her feel for the material, for the period, and its essential vocabulary and spirit is matchless."
-- "AudioFile"
"From the reports of government functionaries, soldiers, and spies to the diaries and letters of private citizens of all political beliefs, Jones shows how turbulence, confusion and contingency shaped each moment of that day."
-- "London Review of Books"
"Jones brings the French Revolution to life in all its color and horror... Above all he is brilliant on the psychological twists of politics, which would cost Robespierre his life."
-- "The Times (London)"
"One can almost hear the ticking of the clock, minute by minute, second by second, counting down to the guillotine."
-- "History Today"
"Vital, incisive, revelatory...It takes us to the place, to the instant, to the heartbeat of revolution in the making."
-- "Hilary Mantel, #1 New York Times bestselling author"
