“For Gauchet, Robespierre is a tragic figure because he hoped to lay the foundations of the rights-respecting liberal-democratic order which we now venerate but could not escape from a fatally inappropriate vision of the people for whose rights he was fighting, and, instead of harmony, generated horror. He stands in one sense as an inspiration, but in another as a warning.”—from the foreword by David A. Bell and Hugo Drochon“A subtle, elegant, and perspicacious explanation of Robespierre’s double career, in 1789–91 and 1792–94. It is also a general guide to the history of modern France.”—Patrice Higonnet, Times Literary Supplement“Marcel Gauchet’s intellectual biography of the French Revolution’s most celebrated—or notorious—spokesman brings out all the ambiguities forced upon him by the way the revolution developed. Gauchet’s lucid analysis makes clear why Robespierre’s role in shaping the revolution and its legacy has fueled so much vehement disagreement over two centuries.”—William Doyle, author of The Oxford History of the French Revolution“In this engrossing and provocative book, Marcel Gauchet departs from the dichotomy of ‘heroic martyr or bloodstained monster’ to provide a new understanding of Robespierre as a personification of the revolution’s political trajectory. Gauchet gives us a controversial yet sympathetic reading of Robespierre’s idealism and tragedy while shedding light on core debates about the meaning of democracy itself.”—Peter McPhee, author of Robespierre: A Revolutionary Life