The Giant of the French Revolution: Danton, a Life Paperback – Illustrated, 12 July 2011

Excellent book from an excellent seller! 5 stars!!!

I needed to have a red to the French Revolution, as my father speak a lot about it, as I remember even details and some anecdotal described in this book. I couldn’t find it in Spanish. It’s one of a must for me.

It was thanks to David Lawday's wonderful book on Talleyrand that I decided to read his DANTON (2009). This naturally led to Ruth Scurr's equally marvelous book on Robespierre, FATAL PURITY (2006). Robespierre was a pale Ichabod Crane with the asceticism of a monk; Danton, hideously ugly, had the animal needs of what Americans might call a red-blooded fullback. What strikes one is the total devotion of both men to republican ideals and their unswerving belief in the virtue of the people, upon whom all power should be conferred, sentiments which should normally have placed both men among the greatest humanists the world has known. Next I was struck by the hatred the Conventioneers had for the nobility and the clergy, one of whom quoted Diderot's words, ''The people will never be happy until the last monarch is strangled with the guts of the last priest.'' Striking too was the fact that the first constitution laid the foundation of a constitutional monarchy, giving Louis the right to veto any bill, and that this constitution was renewed even after the king had tried to flee from France. Only massacres perpetrated by the people led to Louis' eventual beheading, and even then he was condemned by a single vote, 361 out of 721. Marie Antoinette was separated from her son after being accused of incest, and on the day of her beheading the Commune offered the boy a toy guillotine. Due to the massacres perpetrated by mobs, Danton called for the Terror in hopes of restoring order by diverting the attention of the people, thereby assuaging their thirst for bloodbaths. He deeply regretted his decision when he found himself at the foot of the guillotine. Robespierre soon followed him, dying in such a manner that his death leaves one feeling sick, a tribute to Scurr's art. Two deaths out of the thousands of innocents who suffered, among them 43 orphans, children guilty of nothing, massacred during the Terror by the mob. And all for what? A few years later the same mob would be shouting Vive l'Empereur, followed by Vive le Roi, (with the advent of Louis XVIII), then came another emperor, then other kings and still another emperor. Some may shed a tear for Danton; most would applaud the extermination of Robespierre, a reaction that would have left him totally indifferent. DANTON and FATAL PURITY are incredibly powerful books about incredibly powerful times.

A great book on Danton. .. He was such an amazing man and leader. ..it would have been so interesting to see how he would have led France had he not been so tragically murdered at the height of his powers.. He deserves to be remembered. - The Great Danton.

Well written portrait of Danton. A very good read.