Glory and Terror

Book excerpt: Glory and Terror is a vivid and often gory history of the darker side of the French Revolution. Through an examination of contemporary visual and literary representations of executions, funerals, processions and ceremonies it brings the often horrific events of the time to life. Honing in on seven real life cases, the author recounts and interprets: * the public autopsy performed on the corpse of Mirabeau * the exhumation and transportation of Voltaire's body to the Pantheon * the public torture, murder and subsequent mutilation of the Princesse de Lamballe * the agonizingly slow death of Robespierre. Anyone who enjoys dazzling cultural history in the vein of Robert Darnton, Carlo Ginzburg and Anthony Grafton will revel in this intelligent and original work.