The Revolutionary Career of Maximilien Robespierre

About this book

As it changed forever the political landscape of the modern world the French Revolution was driven by a new type of personality: the confirmed self-aware revolutionary. Maximilien Robespierre originated the role and embodied its ideological essence and extremes; the self that he projected to the people was equated with the ideals for which he strove. In creating this intellectual biography of so enigmatic a figure David Jordan has stressed the words of the man about himself. With great imagination and insight Jordan places Robespierres self-conceptualization within the context of events and explains how Robespierre "The Incorruptible"a man seen by contemporaries as virtuouscould not only equate justice with vengeance and demand it of the people but also stand as its symbol before the world.