“By tracing terror in all its incarnations from the divine majesty of the ruler to views of punishment, potential medical cures, the workings of tragedy on the stage, not to mention aesthetic theory, Schechter has managed a feat that has long eluded scholars: fundamentally reframing discussions of the Terror during the French Revolution. The ‘Reign of Terror’ has been cast as the prototype of totalitarianism, a halting step toward socialism, or a desperate wartime effort to save the fledgling French republic, but it has never been put in this broader cultural context in so convincing a fashion. Years of ambitious and inspired research lie behind this magnificent achievement.”
— Lynn Hunt, author of Inventing Human Rights
“So many questions about the character and significance of the French revolution focus on the origins of the Terror. Yet no one before Ronald Schechter has had the brilliantly simple idea of systematically tracing the evolution of the word and its multiple meanings prior to 1789. With penetrating clarity, A Genealogy of Terror in Eighteenth-Century France jolts us into realizing that the making of the modern notion of terror in 1793 has made us lose sight of a broad and highly positive set of connotations for the term prior to 1789. This is a book that will be widely read, much discussed and widely admired.”
— Colin Jones, author of Paris: The Biography of a City
"[A] remarkable book. . . in his fascinating and lucid analysis, Schechter has suggested a new way to think about one of the most important political and cultural transformations of the modern world."
— New York Review of Books
"Schechter’s excellent new book is a well-written, thoughtful piece on the pivotal role of “the Terror” of the French Revolution in changing and defining how people see, use, and feel the words terror, terrorism, and terrorist today. Highly recommended."
— CHOICE
"[A Genealogy of Terror in Eighteenth-Century France is an] elegant and penetrating study. . ."
— Journal of Modern History