Secher’s work is among the most significant accounts of the Revolution. This translation will be welcomed by American historians of France. It provides a significant case study for readers interested in the relationships between religion, region, and political violence.” —Thomas Kselman, University of Notre Dame
"A comprehensive, chilling account of the protracted popular insurrection in western France against the excesses of the revolutionary regime during The Terror. The work covers a great deal of economic and social history as well as providing an operational treatment of the campaigns that may well have left 600,000 people dead. Although largely forgotten today, the operations in the Vendee set the standard for counter-insurgency operations used by the Napoleonic regime, which ultimately backfired in Spain and elsewhere." —The NYMAS Review
“Secher belongs to a school of French historians who view the French Revolution as the godfather of the harsh leftist regimes of Lenin, Stalin, Mao, and Pol Pot, and his work is a major contribution to this point of view. Through an exhaustive examination of obscure departmental archives and private parish records, Secher certainly proves that the French Reign of Terror was not restricted to the streets of Paris.” —Library Journal
"Highly recommended. Important for all collections; accessible to general readers; of great interest to specialists.” —Choice
“. . . an important. . . book.” —History: Reviews of New Books
“Clearly that message still has an appeal in parts of the English-speaking world. In the year 2004 Secher’s gruesome retelling of the conflict in the Vendée reverberates in global landscape. The problem of political violence has not gone away; indeed it has become more acute.” —Times Literary Supplement
“. . . highly recommended.” —New Oxford Review
“In [this] controversial book, Reynald Secher takes some elements of the revisionist school and transforms them. . . . Secher sees in the violence a kind of precursor to the absolute ruthlessness of 20th-century totalitarianism.” —New York Times Book Review (Review of French edition)
The rural populace of western France suffered greatly at the hands of the Jacobin zealots who took control of the country in 1793. In fact, it is French historian Secher's (Juifs et Vendeens) contention that the merciless Committee of Public Safety initiated a deliberate genocidal policy of extermination that eliminated over 14 percent of the population and 18 percent of the dwellings in the pastoral region commonly known as the Vend e. It was in March 1793 that the pious Vendean peasantry rose up against the enforcement of anticlerical edicts issued by the convention. After initial successes, the rebellion was crushed. Secher belongs to a school of French historians who view the French Revolution as the godfather of the harsh leftist regimes of Lenin, Stalin, Mao, and Pol Pot, and his work is a major contribution to this point of view. Through an exhaustive examination of obscure departmental archives and private parish records, Secher certainly proves that the French Reign of Terror was not restricted to the streets of Paris. While few contemporary historians would deny the bloody excesses of the civil war in the Vend e, Secher's use of the term genocide may raise a few scholarly eyebrows. For a countervailing viewpoint, see Alain Gerard's "Par principe d'humanite-: la Terreur et la Vendee." Secher's work is recommended for graduate level collections in academic libraries.-Jim Doyle, Sara Hightower Regional Lib., Rome, GA Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.
