Read Books Online and Download eBooks, EPub, PDF, Mobi, Kindle, Text Full Free.
When The Guillotine Fell
Download When The Guillotine Fell full books in PDF, epub, and Kindle. Read online When The Guillotine Fell ebook anywhere anytime directly on your device. Fast Download speed and no annoying ads. We cannot guarantee that every ebooks is available!
Book Synopsis When the Guillotine Fell by : Jeremy Mercer
Download or read book When the Guillotine Fell written by Jeremy Mercer and published by Macmillan. This book was released on 2008-06-24 with total page 380 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: How long did the guillotine's blade hang over the heads of French criminals? Was it abandoned in the late 1800s? Did French citizens of the early days of the twentieth century decry its brutality? No. The blade was allowed to do its work well into our own time. In 1974, Hamida Djandoubi brutally tortured 22 year-old Elisabeth Bousquet in an apartment in Marseille, putting cigarettes out on her body and lighting her on fire, finally strangling her to death in the Provencal countryside where he left her body to rot. In 1977, he became the last person executed by guillotine in France in a multifaceted case as mesmerizing for its senseless violence as it is though-provoking for its depiction of a France both in love with and afraid of The Foreigner. In a thrilling and enlightening account of a horrendous murder paired with the history of the guillotine and the history of capital punishment, Jeremy Mercer, a writer well known for his view of the underbelly of French life, considers the case of Hamida Djandoubi in the vast flow of blood that France's guillotine has produced. In his hands, France never looked so bloody...
Book Synopsis When the Guillotine Fell by : Jeremy Mercer
Download or read book When the Guillotine Fell written by Jeremy Mercer and published by Macmillan. This book was released on 2008-06-24 with total page 322 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: How long did the guillotine’s blade hang over the heads of French criminals? Was it abandoned in the late 1800s? Did French citizens of the early days of the twentieth century decry its brutality? No. The blade was allowed to do its work well into our own time. In 1974, Hamida Djandoubi brutally tortured 22 year-old Elisabeth Bousquet in an apartment in Marseille, putting cigarettes out on her body and lighting her on fire, finally strangling her to death in the Provencal countryside where he left her body to rot. In 1977, he became the last person executed by guillotine in France in a multifaceted case as mesmerizing for its senseless violence as it is though-provoking for its depiction of a France both in love with and afraid of The Foreigner. In a thrilling and enlightening account of a horrendous murder paired with the history of the guillotine and the history of capital punishment, Jeremy Mercer, a writer well known for his view of the underbelly of French life, considers the case of Hamida Djandoubi in the vast flow of blood that France's guillotine has produced. In his hands, France never looked so bloody...
Book Synopsis History of the guillotine. Revised from the 'Quarterly review'. by : John Wilson Croker
Download or read book History of the guillotine. Revised from the 'Quarterly review'. written by John Wilson Croker and published by . This book was released on 1853 with total page 112 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Author :Charles River Charles River Editors Publisher :Createspace Independent Publishing Platform ISBN 13 :9781542695459 Total Pages :54 pages Book Rating :4.6/5 (954 download)
Book Synopsis The Guillotine by : Charles River Charles River Editors
Download or read book The Guillotine written by Charles River Charles River Editors and published by Createspace Independent Publishing Platform. This book was released on 2017-01-22 with total page 54 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: *Includes pictures *Includes contemporary accounts describing the use of the guillotine *Includes online resources and a bibliography for further reading *Includes a table of contents "But here I should imagine the most terrible part of the whole punishment is, not the bodily pain at all-but the certain knowledge that in an hour, then in ten minutes, then in half a minute, then now-this very instant-your soul must quit your body and that you will no longer be a man-and that this is certain, certain!" - Fyodor Dostoyevsky, The Idiot The Guillotine. Its very name recalls scenes of horror during the French Revolution, as nobles lost their heads while gangs of people cheered and Madame Defarge knitted. Some of history's most famous people lost their heads at the guillotine, including Marie Antoinette, King Louis XVI of France, and Robespierre, and the apparatus is immediately recognizable across the world, not just for its appearance but for all the stories it featured prominently in. However, the truth behind this device is much more complicated than its short-lived use during France's Reign of Terror. For one thing, societies have been executing people since ancient times and have used various devices, the guillotine being just one. Even as early as the 13th century, there were moves among some to make the arduous task of state-sanctioned executions quicker and easier, and in time, the evolution of various devices helped bring about the invention of the guillotine. Though many their names have now faded into history, both the instruments of the past and the people who used them were the parents of this monstrous device. But a funny thing happened along the way as people became less and less enamored of killing each other, even for those who had themselves committed murder. As the Age of Enlightenment spread in the mid-1700s, so did a sense that government should not take lives at all, or if they did, that they should do so as quickly and painlessly as possible. Thus it was that the guillotine was created, not to hurt others so much as to dispatch those condemned as painlessly as possible. It is but a sad coincidence that its design was perfected on the eve of one of the bloodiest eras in French history; had it been developed at another point in time, it might very-well have been hailed as a merciful way to mete out justice. Like all important devices, the guillotine did not remain unchanged during its centuries of use. Its design was periodically tweaked for decades until the latter half of the 19th century, when it was completely redesigned, likely in light of a growing hostility toward capital punishment in general and beheadings in particular. By this time, such notable Frenchmen as Victor Hugo had spoken out against the right of the state to take a human life. Even the Sanson family, who had served as France's executioners for more nearly 200 years, had given up their work, and it fell to others to master the new apparatus. These men would be increasingly maligned for their work as a more civilized world insisted that it was not for the state to conduct executions. That said, it often surprises people to learn that the guillotine remained in use through the middle part of the 20th century, outliving other barbaric practices like slavery by nearly 100 years. Though the government outlawed public executions in the mid-1930s, men and women continued to be beheaded in the name of justice long after the end of World War II. But ultimately, the times were changing, and Nazi and Japanese atrocities had opened the eyes of many to man's ability to hurt fellow man. Killing was even less attractive to those who had already killed in the name of patriotism, and their voices raised, higher and higher, until ultimately the device that had dispatched royalty and paupers alike was finally used for the last time. As one author wrote, "May it never be used again."
Book Synopsis The Fall of Robespierre by : Colin Jones
Download or read book The Fall of Robespierre written by Colin Jones and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2021 with total page 592 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The day of 9 Thermidor (27 July 1794) is universally acknowledged as a major turning-point in the history of the French Revolution. Maximilien Robespierre, the most prominent member of the Committee of Public Safety, was planning to destroy one of the most dangerous plots that the Revolution had faced.
Book Synopsis The Man Who Thought He Was Napoleon by : Laure Murat
Download or read book The Man Who Thought He Was Napoleon written by Laure Murat and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2014-09-15 with total page 305 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Man Who Thought He Was Napoleon is built around a bizarre historical event and an off-hand challenge. The event? In December 1840, nearly twenty years after his death, the remains of Napoleon were returned to Paris for burial—and the next day, the director of a Paris hospital for the insane admitted fourteen men who claimed to be Napoleon. The challenge, meanwhile, is the claim by great French psychiatrist Jean-Étienne-Dominique Esquirol (1772–1840) that he could recount the history of France through asylum registries. From those two components, Laure Murat embarks on an exploration of the surprising relationship between history and madness. She uncovers countless stories of patients whose delusions seem to be rooted in the historical or political traumas of their time, like the watchmaker who believed he lived with a new head, his original having been removed at the guillotine. In the troubled wake of the Revolution, meanwhile, French physicians diagnosed a number of mental illnesses tied to current events, from “revolutionary neuroses” and “democratic disease” to the “ambitious monomania” of the Restoration. How, Murat asks, do history and psychiatry, the nation and the individual psyche, interface? A fascinating history of psychiatry—but of a wholly new sort—The Man Who Thought He Was Napoleon offers the first sustained analysis of the intertwined discourses of madness, psychiatry, history, and political theory.
Book Synopsis To Quell the Terror: The Mystery of the Vocation of the Sixteen Carmelites of Compiègne Guillotined July 17, 1794 by : William Bush
Download or read book To Quell the Terror: The Mystery of the Vocation of the Sixteen Carmelites of Compiègne Guillotined July 17, 1794 written by William Bush and published by ICS Publications. This book was released on 2013-10-29 with total page 248 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book recounts the dramatic true story of the Discalced Carmelite nuns of Compiègne, martyred during the French Revolution's "Great Terror," and known to the world through their fictional representation in Gertrud von Le Fort's Song at the Scaffold and Francis Poulenc's Dialogues of the Carmelites. At the height of the French Revolution's "Great Terror," a community of sixteen Carmelite nuns from Compiègne offered their lives to restore peace to the church and to France. Ten days after their deaths by the guillotine, Robespierre fell, and with his execution on the same scaffold the Reign of Terror effectively ended. Had God thus accepted and used the Carmelites' generous self-gift? Through Gertrud von Le Fort's modern novella, Song at the Scaffold, and Francis Poulenc's famed opera, Dialogues of the Carmelites, (with its libretto by Georges Bernanos), modern audiences around the world have become captivated by the mysterious destiny of these Compiègne martyrs, Blessed Teresa of St. Augustine and her companions. Now, for the first time in English, William Bush explores at length the facts behind the fictional representations, and reflects on their spiritual significance. Based on years of research, this book recounts in lively detail virtually all that is known of the life and background of each of the martyrs, as well as the troubled times in which they lived. The Compiègne Carmelites, sustained by their remarkable prioress, emerge as distinct individuals, struggling as Christians to understand and respond to an awesome calling, relying not on their own strength but on the mercy of God and the guiding hand of Providence. The book includes an index and 15 photos.
Download or read book Abolition written by Robert Badinter and published by UPNE. This book was released on 2008-08-29 with total page 252 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The English translation of a behind-the-scenes account of the abolition of the death penalty in France
Download or read book Terror written by Graeme Fife and published by Macmillan. This book was released on 2006-11-14 with total page 450 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "This extraordinary, bloodthirsty period comes to life in Graeme Fife's new book. Drawing on contemporary police files, eyewitness accounts, directives from the sinister Committee for Public Safety, and heart-wrenching last letters from prisoners awaiting execution, the author recreates the psychotic atmosphere of that time."--BOOK JACKET.
Book Synopsis Time Was Soft There by : Jeremy Mercer
Download or read book Time Was Soft There written by Jeremy Mercer and published by St. Martin's Press. This book was released on 2006-09-19 with total page 313 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Some bookstores are filled with stories both inside and outside the bindings. These are places of sanctuary, even redemption---and Jeremy Mercer has found both amid the stacks of Shakespeare & Co." ---Paul Collins, author of Sixpence House: Lost in a Town of Books In a small square on the left bank of the Seine, the door to a green-fronted bookshop beckoned. . . . With gangsters on his tail and his meager savings in hand, crime reporter Jeremy Mercer fled Canada in 1999 and ended up in Paris. Broke and almost homeless, he found himself invited to a tea party amongst the riffraff of the timeless Left Bank fantasy known as Shakespeare & Co. In its present incarnation, Shakespeare & Co. has become a destination for writers and readers the world over, trying to reclaim the lost world of literary Paris in the 1920s. Having been inspired by Sylvia Beach's original store, the present owner, George Whitman, invites writers who are down and out in Paris to live and dream amid the bookshelves in return for work. Jeremy Mercer tumbled into this literary rabbit hole and found a life of camaraderie with the other eccentric residents, and became, for a time, George Whitman's confidante and right-hand man. Time Was Soft There is one of the great stories of bohemian Paris and recalls the work of many writers who were bewitched by the City of Light in their youth. Jeremy's comrades include Simon, the eccentric British poet who refuses to give up his bed in the antiquarian book room, beautiful blonde Pia, who contributes the elegant spirit of Parisian couture to the store, the handsome American Kurt, who flirts with beautiful women looking for copies of Tropic of Cancer, and George himself, the man who holds the key to it all. As Time Was Soft There winds in and around the streets of Paris, the staff fall in and out of love, straighten bookshelves, host tea parties, drink in the more down-at-the-heels cafés, sell a few books, and help George find a way to keep his endangered bookstore open. Spend a few days with Jeremy Mercer at 37 Rue de la Bucherie, and discover the bohemian world of Paris that still bustles in the shadow of Notre Dame. "Jeremy Mercer has captured Shakespeare & Co. and its complicated owner, George Whitman, with remarkable insight. Time Was Soft There is a charming memoir about living in Whitman's Shakespeare & Co. and the strange, broken, lost, and occasionally talented, eccentrics and residents of this Tumblewood Hotel." ---Noel Riley Fitch, author of Sylvia Beach and the Lost Generation: A History of Literary Paris in the Twenties & Thirties "There does seem to be something about the odd ducks that work at bookstores. Jeremy Mercer has captured the story of a wonderful, unique store that could only be born out of a love for books and the written word." --- Liz Schlegel, the Book Revue bookshop, Huntington, New York
Book Synopsis Capital Punishment in Britain by : Richard Clark
Download or read book Capital Punishment in Britain written by Richard Clark and published by Ian Allan Publishing. This book was released on 2009 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Capital punishment has played its part as the ultimate judicial penalty in the UK for centuries. This unique book meticulously examines the ominous origins of this horrific tradition, and the arguments behind society's final punishment. Often a macabre, graphic exercise in physical mutilation, capital punishment was once a highly popular form of entertainment for the masses, as well as serving the death penalty to murderers - man, woman and child alike. Within the pages of this chilling book, these condemned victims and the methods in which they met their plight come to life once more. The death penalty is examined in its different guises through the centuries, from execution methods pre-1800 by hanging - both individual and multiple, hanging, drawing and quartering for the charge of high treason, to other sickening alternatives which included burning, boiling alive and use of the dreaded Halifax gibbet, precursor to the Guillotine. Witches fell to watery graves through violent drownings, whilst damned women were often pressed slowly to death. Execution methods after 1800 are also examined, with reference to specific cases. Criminals were made to pay for their crimes by hanging in the drop gallows or being slowly hung, drawn and quartered, whilst in later decades during World War 1 and 2 soldiers and spies were mercilessly shot to death in the Tower of London. Other chapters examine the infamous places of public execution such as Tyburn and Newgate, the details of the legal acts involved such as The Bloody Code and The Black Acts, and the grotesque procedure for the execution of youths. Grisly post mortem punishments are revealed, where hapless victims were left gibbeting before being brutally dissected or anatomised. The role of the hangman and his assistants is studied, with the gory training procedures detailed. Modern developments are also taken into account, with an analysis of the reduction of executions with the introduction of railways, a chapter on 20th century executions and reprieves, as well as descriptions of the last executions in the UK, and the final abolition of capital punishment. Perfect for social historians and those with an interest in the macabre, or for anyone eager to discover the darker side of justice.
Book Synopsis What a Way to Go by : Geoffrey Abbott
Download or read book What a Way to Go written by Geoffrey Abbott and published by Macmillan. This book was released on 2007-04-17 with total page 358 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "In this wickedly humorous book, Geoffrey Abbott describes the effectiveness of instruments of torture and reveals the macabre origins of familiar phrases such as 'gone west' or 'drawn a blank'. Covering everything from the preparation of the victim to the disposal of the body 'What a Way to Go' is everything you ever wanted to know about the ultimate penalty--and a lot you never thought to ask."--Publisher's description
Book Synopsis Reflections on the Guillotine by : Albert Camus
Download or read book Reflections on the Guillotine written by Albert Camus and published by Penguin UK. This book was released on 2020-09-24 with total page 96 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 'When silence or tricks of language contribute to maintaining an abuse that must be reformed or a suffering that can be relieved, then there is no other solution but to speak out' Written when execution by guillotine was still legal in France, Albert Camus' devastating attack on the 'obscene exhibition' of capital punishment remains one of the most powerful, persuasive arguments ever made against the death penalty. One of twenty new books in the bestselling Penguin Great Ideas series. This new selection showcases a diverse list of thinkers who have helped shape our world today, from anarchists to stoics, feminists to prophets, satirists to Zen Buddhists.
Book Synopsis Where the Light Falls by : Allison Pataki
Download or read book Where the Light Falls written by Allison Pataki and published by Dial Press Trade Paperback. This book was released on 2018-04-03 with total page 386 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A rich and sweeping novel of courage, duty, sacrifice, and love set during the French Revolution from New York Times bestselling author Allison Pataki and her brother Owen Pataki Three years after the storming of the Bastille, the streets of Paris are roiling with revolution. The citizens of France are enlivened by the ideals of liberty, equality, and fraternity. The monarchy of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette has been dismantled—with the help of the guillotine—and a new nation is rising in its place. Jean-Luc, an idealistic young lawyer, moves his wife and their infant son from a comfortable life in Marseille to Paris, in the hopes of joining the cause. André, the son of a denounced nobleman, has evaded execution by joining the new French army. Sophie, a young aristocratic widow, embarks on her own fight for independence against her powerful, vindictive uncle. As chaos threatens to undo the progress of the Revolution and the demand for justice breeds instability and paranoia, the lives of these compatriots become inextricably linked. Jean-Luc, André, and Sophie find themselves in a world where survival seems increasingly less likely—for themselves and, indeed, for the nation. Featuring cameos from legendary figures such as Robespierre, Louis XVI, and Thomas-Alexandre Dumas, Where the Light Falls is an epic and engrossing novel, moving from the streets and courtrooms of Paris to Napoleon’s epic march across the burning sands of Egypt. With vivid detail and imagery, the Patakis capture the hearts and minds of the citizens of France fighting for truth above all, and for their belief in a cause greater than themselves. Praise for Where the Light Falls “Compulsively readable . . . a compelling tale of love, betrayal, sacrifice, and bravery . . . a sweeping romantic novel that takes readers to the heart of Paris and to the center of all the action of the French Revolution.”—Bustle “Succeeds in forcefully illustrating the lessons of the French Revolution for today’s democratic movements.”—Kirkus Reviews “Devotees of Alexandre Dumas and Victor Hugo will devour this tale of heroism, treachery, and adventure.”—Library Journal “This is a story of the French Revolution that begins with your head in the slot watching how fast the blade of the guillotine is heading for your neck—and that’s nothing compared to the pace and the drama of what follows.”—Tom Wolfe
Download or read book Fatal Purity written by Ruth Scurr and published by Macmillan. This book was released on 2007-04-17 with total page 452 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Against the dramatic backdrop of the French Revolution, historian Scurr tracks Robespierre's evolution from lawyer to revolutionary leader. This is a fascinating portrait of a man who identified with the Revolution to the point of madness, and in so doing changed the course of history.
Book Synopsis Miss Darcy Falls in Love by : Sharon Lathan
Download or read book Miss Darcy Falls in Love written by Sharon Lathan and published by Sourcebooks, Inc.. This book was released on 2011-11-01 with total page 264 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The choice of a lifetime... One young lady following her passion for music. Two strong men locked in a bitter rivalry for her heart. A journey of self-discover, and a trap of her own making. Georgiana Darcy is going to have to carve out her own destiny, however ill-equipped she may feel... Praise for In the Arms of Mr. Darcy: "Engaging, fast-paced, and searingly romantic." — Austenprose "Eloquent . . . Lathan continues to bring the Regency period to life . . . I was swept up by the romance." — Rundpinne "Ms. Lathan's writing is lyrical and perfect for this genre ... Jane Austen would be proud." — The Good, the Bad and the Unread "One of the best [Austen sequels] yet written. . .we get an in-depth look into the deep and everlasting love Darcy and Elizabeth share." — Everything Victorian and More Bestselling author Sharon Lathan has created a world of sensual Jane Austen continuations, including Mr. and Mrs. Fitzwilliam Darcy: Two Shall Become One and Loving Mr. Darcy Journeys Beyond Pemberley. Her work is widely praised for bringing the Regency period to life and for the depth of her stories of true love.
Book Synopsis The Last Libertines by : Benedetta Craveri
Download or read book The Last Libertines written by Benedetta Craveri and published by New York Review of Books. This book was released on 2020-10-20 with total page 617 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An enthralling work of history about the Libertine generation that came up during—and was eventually destroyed by—the French Revolution. The Last Libertines, as Benedetta Craveri writes in her preface to the book, is the story of a group of “seven aristocrats whose youth coincided with the French monarchy’s final moment of grace—a moment when it seemed to the nation’s elite that a style of life based on privilege and the spirit of caste might acknowledge the widespread demand for change, and in doing so reconcile itself with Enlightenment ideals of justice, tolerance, and citizenship.” Here we meet seven emblematic characters, whom Craveri has singled out not only for “the romantic character of their exploits and amours—but also by the keenness with which they experienced this crisis in the civilization of the ancien régime, of which they themselves were the emblem.” Displaying the aristocratic virtues of “dignity, courage, refinement of manners, culture, [and] wit,” the Duc de Lauzun, the Vicomte de Ségur, the Duc de Brissac, the Comte de Narbonne, the Chevalier de Boufflers, the Comte de Ségur, and the Comte de Vaudreuil were at the same time “irreducible individualists” and true “sons of the Enlightenment,” all of them ambitious to play their part in bringing around the great changes that were in the air. When the French Revolution came, however, they found themselves condemned to poverty, exile, and in some cases execution. Telling the parallel lives of these seven dazzling but little-remembered historical figures, Craveri brings the past to life, powerfully dramatizing a turbulent time that was at once the last act of a now-vanished world and the first act of our own.
