Twelve Who Ruled

The Year of the Terror in the French Revolution

By: R. R. Palmer, Isser Woloch - foreword

Narrated by: David Stifel

The Reign of Terror continues to fascinate scholars as one of the bloodiest periods in French history, when the Committee of Public Safety strove to defend the first Republic from its many enemies, creating a climate of fear and suspicion in revolutionary France.

R. R. Palmer's fascinating narrative follows the Committee's deputies individually and collectively, recounting and assessing their tumultuous struggles in Paris and their repressive missions in the provinces.

A foreword by Isser Woloch explains why this book remains an enduring classic in French revolutionary studies.

©1941 Princeton University Press; Foreword to the Princeton Classic Edition copyright 2005 by Princeton University Press (P)2020 Tantor

Classic book

Great book for all who enjoy reading about French Revolution.xxxx. A bit dat d but considered a good sourcce

Awesome

There’s something amazing about the way a modern conservative can narrate the words of a 1940’s liberal that’s so sarcastic it provides multiple meanings to the words. The content of the book is top notch as well, but it might be better to have a brief review on the chronology of the French Revolution and its main commentators before having a listen.

it's a masterpiece. *****

It's wonderful when the historian is also a very good writer. It's a pity that so many historians don't know how to right.
Academic speaking I think that this book also encapsulated the main body and soul of the revolution, and also the l'air du temps. Very Good*****

A Warning

It's hard to offer new insight on a book written 80 years ago but I can at least offer some advice to the casual reader: this is not a crash course about the French Revolution or even a holistic book about France during that era. If you were like me and approaching this book years after it was covered in school, I would recommend familiarizing yourself with things like the timeline of the revolution, the beliefs of the Jacobins, Girondins, Sans-Culottes, etc and the political climate of Europe before the Revolution. Also, if you don't speak French, I recommend looking at some of the French names or places on paper because you may have a hard time remembering them otherwise. Personally, this book read as a never ending footnote but one that I learned a lot from nonetheless.

Wonderful classic book let down by performance

This is a superb account of the Committee of Public Safety--nuanced, detailed, and fair-minded. What is difficult to overlook is that the "performance" (i.e., the narrator) cannot pronounce even common words such as "Vendee" and "Robespierre," let alone "Eglantine" as in Fabre d'Eglantine.