Fatal Purity: Robespierre And the French Revolution - Hardcover

Scurr, Ruth

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0805079874 ISBN 13: 9780805079876

Publisher: Metropolitan Books, 2006

Synopsis

A compelling biography of a key figure of the French Revolution captures the paradoxical life of Maximilien Robespierre, from his beginnings as a provincial lawyer, to his rise to power as a revolutionary leader, to his eventual end on the guillotine that had taken the lives of so many during the Terror that he had orchestrated. 35,000 first printing.

About this title

Review:

"Scurr brilliantly evokes the sheer speed and intensity of change after the fall of the Bastille". -- Guardian (Sat): Rebecca Abrams

"Scurr has written a lucid, readable and finely balanced biography of this flawed French revolutionary" -- Mike Rapport, BBC History Magazine

"The best English-Language book on the subject for decades" -- Book of the Week, The Week Magazine

"This is a biography that will stimulate all those interested in the subject of state terror" -- Antonia Fraser, The Times

"fine political biography" -- Independent (Fri): David Coward

"it is difficult to ignore the contemporary resonances" -- Times

A much-lauded debut -- Bookseller

Engaging and insightful biography... Scurr writes with sensitivity and clarity about this paradoxical individual -- Stuart Kelly, Scotland on Sunday

`extremely intelligent, well researched book...'
-- The Sunday Herald Books of the Year. Chosen by Lady Antonia Fraser, historian.

‘Scurr has an important tale to tell, and she tells it judiciously.’ -- The Sunday Times, Lucy Hughes-Hallett

From the Publisher:

How idealism turned to blood: a powerful new portrait of the most enigmatic politician of all times, and a vivid re-reading of the turbulent French Revolution itself.

About this edition

• Publisher: Metropolitan Books
• Publication date: 2006
• ISBN 10: 0805079874
• ISBN 13: 9780805079876
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 408