PIERRE VERGNIAUD: Voice of the French Revolution

Rescued from obscurity in this the first English biography, Pierre Vergniaud, genius and orator, whose eloquence held the violence of the French Revolution in check from 1791-93, is here given his due. On the one hand he fought the excesses and inequities of the regime, on the other the terrorism of the Revolution's extremists. A Girondin of bourgeois heritage from the town of Limoges, he came as a student to Paris, became a disciple of Dupaty, president of the Bordeaux Parliament, and-with the rest of that free-thinking city-welcomed the news of the Fall of the Bastille. He was elected to the General Council of the Gironde, then for the new Legislative Assembly in 1791. In the two years that followed, before he fell victim to Madame Guillotine, he became one of the world's great orators. Here is a biography that combines exhaustive research with vigorous presentation. An important addition to the literature of the French Revolution- and a worthy successor to Ambassador Bowers' Jefferson and Hamilton and The Tragic Era.