Description
Book SynopsisThis work provides a detailed narrative of the civil war in the Vendee region of western France, which lasted for much of the 1790s but was most intensely fought at the height of the Reign of Terror, from March 1793 to early 1795.
Trade Review“Secher’s work is among the most significant accounts of the Revolution. This translation will be welcomed by American historians of France. It provides a significant case study for readers interested in the relationships between religion, region, and political violence.” —Thomas Kselman, University of Notre Dame
"A comprehensive, chilling account of the protracted popular insurrection in western France against the excesses of the revolutionary regime during The Terror. The work covers a great deal of economic and social history as well as providing an operational treatment of the campaigns that may well have left 600,000 people dead. Although largely forgotten today, the operations in the Vendee set the standard for counter-insurgency operations used by the Napoleonic regime, which ultimately backfired in Spain and elsewhere." —The NYMAS Review
“Secher belongs to a school of French historians who view the French Revolution as the godfather of the harsh leftist regimes of Lenin, Stalin, Mao, and Pol Pot, and his work is a major contribution to this point of view. Through an exhaustive examination of obscure departmental archives and private parish records, Secher certainly proves that the French Reign of Terror was not restricted to the streets of Paris.” —Library Journal
"Highly recommended. Important for all collections; accessible to general readers; of great interest to specialists.” —Choice
“. . . an important. . . book.” —History: Reviews of New Books
“Clearly that message still has an appeal in parts of the English-speaking world. In the year 2004 Secher’s gruesome retelling of the conflict in the Vendée reverberates in global landscape. The problem of political violence has not gone away; indeed it has become more acute.” —Times Literary Supplement
“. . . highly recommended.” —New Oxford Review
“In [this] controversial book, Reynald Secher takes some elements of the revisionist school and transforms them. . . . Secher sees in the violence a kind of precursor to the absolute ruthlessness of 20th-century totalitarianism.” —New York Times Book Review (Review of French edition)
