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Title: Twelve Who Ruled by Robert Roswell Palmer ISBN: 0691007616 Publisher: Princeton Univ Pr Pub. Date: 01 September, 1970 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.8
Rating: 5
Summary: An amazing book!
Comment: This may have been the best book that I have ever read. Palmer does a great job of portraying the characters, the times, and the decisions they made. The last chapter is absolutely riveting. One of if not the best book I've ever read!
Rating: 5
Summary: Insightful Book about a Little Understood Time
Comment: In my college Western Civilization course years ago, we read a speech Robespierre gave during a festival created by the revolutionary government. After discussing this speech for a while, we passed on to Napoleon, but before we did, one student asked the professor for recommendations for further reading on the Reign of Terror. He mentioned Twelve Who Ruled. I didn't run out and buy the book, but I did keep in the back of my mind, and whenever I browsed the history shelves of a bookstore or library, I kept an eye out for it. Several years later, I ran across the book and, after reading it, I am quite glad that I did.
The Reign of Terror is, of course, a fascinating period of history that usually gets short shrift in high school or college classes. One hears of guillotines and revolutionaries run wild, killing each other for not being radical enough. This book fleshes out the story and dispels some myths about it.
Robespierre was a member of the Committee on Public Safety, a legislative committee that was part of the National Assembly, France's short-lived revolutionary parliament set up in the 1790s. The Committee consisted of twelve people, hence the title of the book: "The Twelve Who Ruled."
Palmer describes how the Committee functions and gives a very plausible explanation for the reasons behind Robespierre's and his fellow committee members' actions. Given the nature of the period, it is no surprise that the book is not boring. But Palmer did not sacrifice academic rigor for readability.
I recommend this book for anyone interested in history or political science.
Rating: 4
Summary: The best introduction to the French Revolution
Comment: This is a small gem of a book and introduces both the characters and the influences of the period of the terror in the French Revolution. Like all good narrative histories, it maintains a balance between the detail and the sweep of history. Any book that is fresh and alive after forty years, begins to deserve the title of classic. Unfortunately history does not stand still and many of Palmer's conclusions need to be tested. It needs to be read alongside Soboul and Schama to gain an understanding of the complexity of this period. Even so, a great work that will repay careful reading.
From this starting point, you can delve back into the influences that brought this group to power and forward to the Napoleonic period.
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Title: The Days of the French Revolution by Christopher Hibbert ISBN: 0688169783 Publisher: Quill Pub. Date: 1999 List Price(USD): $16.00 |
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Title: The Coming of the French Revolution by Georges Lefebvre, Robert R. Palmer ISBN: 0691007519 Publisher: Princeton Univ Pr Pub. Date: 01 November, 1967 List Price(USD): $18.95 |
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Title: The Oxford History of the French Revolution by William Doyle ISBN: 0192852213 Publisher: Oxford University Press Pub. Date: 1990 List Price(USD): $17.95 |
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Title: Citizens: A Chronicle of the French Revolution by Simon Schama ISBN: 0679726101 Publisher: Vintage Books Pub. Date: 1990 List Price(USD): $28.00 |
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Title: The Old Regime and the French Revolution by Alexis de Tocqueville, A. P. Kerr ISBN: 0385092601 Publisher: Doubleday Pub. Date: 1955 List Price(USD): $12.95 |
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