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Massacre: The Life and Death of the Paris Commune
John Merriman, the Charles Seymour Professor of History
(Basic Books)
The Paris Commune lasted for only 64 days in 1871, but during that short time it gave rise to some of the grandest political dreams of the 19th century — before culminating in horrific violence.
Following the French defeat in the Franco-Prussian War, hungry and politically disenchanted Parisians took up arms against their government in the name of a more just society. They expelled loyalists and soldiers and erected barricades in the streets. “Massacre” features a cast of Communards — from les pétroleuses (female incendiaries) to the painter Gustave Courbet — whose idealism fueled a revolution. Merriman recreates the Commune’s chaotic and bloody end when 30,000 troops stormed the city, burning half of Paris and executing captured Communards en masse.
