Laura Mason tells a new story about the French Revolution by examining the trial of Gracchus Babeuf, an explosive event which destabilized a fragile republic. Refracting national political life through Babeuf's trial, this book explains how an elected government's assault on popular democracy and social justice destroyed the republic, and why that matters now.
Laura Mason is a senior lecturer in history at Johns Hopkins University. She is the author of Singing the French Revolution: Popular Culture and Politics, 1787-1799. She lives in Baltimore.