18th century
A01=Biancamaria Fontana
Author_Biancamaria Fontana
Bourgeois
Category=NHD
democracy
eq_bestseller
eq_history
eq_isMigrated=1
eq_isMigrated=2
eq_nobargain
eq_non-fiction
forthcoming
French Revolution
Government of Experts
Liberal Republic
Napoleon
Reform of Laws
Reign of Terror
Terror
Product details
- ISBN 9781836392491
- Dimensions: 156 x 234mm
- Publication Date: 01 Jul 2026
- Publisher: Reaktion Books
- Publication City/Country: GB
- Product Form: Hardback
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The French Directory is often dismissed as an uninspiring interlude between revolutionary fervour and Napoleonic legend, yet its story is far richer than its reputation suggests. This book shifts the focus from the regime to the remarkable men who shaped it – a cohort of jurists, engineers and administrators who survived the Reign of Terror and set out to safeguard the Revolution’s most important achievements. Working not on battlefields but in offices and council chambers, they built durable laws and institutions that still underpin modern France. The first English-language study on the topic in fifty years, Desk Revolutionaries offers an engaging, character-driven narrative that also sheds light on the enduring power of technical experts in government, inviting reflection on how democracies are made – and maintained.
Biancamaria Fontana is Emeritus Professor of the History of Political Ideas at the University of Lausanne. Her books include Montaigne’s Politics (2008) and Germaine de Staël (2016).
