The Headless Republic: Sacrificial Violence in Modern French Thought [Hardcover]

Jesse Goldhammer (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 28, 2005

In The Headless Republic, Jesse Goldhammer explores how the French revolutionaries retrieved a set of ideas about founding violence from the classical Romans and early Christians and incorporated it into postrevolutionary debates that echoed into the twentieth century. By linking sacrifice as expressed in revolutionary practices to modern French theory, Goldhammer shows how ancient ideas of violent political renewal made their way into the contemporary age.Goldhammer elucidates the theoretical and practical significance of sacrificial violence during the Revolution, and then turns his attention to postrevolutionary intellectuals whose work is inspired by the founding sacrifices of the French Republic. Showing how Georges Bataille, Joseph de Maistre, and Georges Sorel adapted concepts of sacrifice to their own particular political agendas-whether reactionary or revolutionary-Goldhammer challenges conventional readings of these three thinkers as "bloodthirsty intellectuals." Instead, he argues, their work reveals the limits of violence as an agent of political change and attacks the forms of violence later adopted by fascist regimes. More broadly, Goldhammer makes the case for including ancient concepts of collective bloodshed in the modern lexicon of political violence.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"In this unusual and provocative study in intellectual history, the author explores the theme of sacrifice in French political thought. Goldhammer traces the idea of sacrifice from both its religious roots (martyrdom and self-sacrifice for the glory of God) and Greek mythology and republican Rome to the French Revolution and beyond."-Choice, April 2006

"Jesse Goldhammer has written a daring and thoughtful book about an intriguing and dangerous current in political theory. The Headless Republic delineates the French Revolutionary economy of violence, showing how Revolutionary practice and thought appropriated an ancient logic in which violent sacrifice invested political authority with the aura of the sublime."-Anne Norton, University of Pennsylvania

"The Headless Republic is a fascinating overview of a crucial and often overlooked problem in modern French intellectual history: the problem of political and social foundation through religious fervor and sacrificial violence. Jesse Goldhammer's book will be a standard reference in its area."-Allan Stoekl, Pennsylvania State University

From the Inside Flap

"Jesse Goldhammer has written a daring and thoughtful book about an intriguing and dangerous current in political theory. The Headless Republic delineates the French Revolutionary economy of violence, showing how Revolutionary practice and thought appropriated an ancient logic in which violent sacrifice invested political authority with the aura of the sublime."—Anne Norton, University of Pennsylvania

"The Headless Republic is a fascinating overview of a crucial and often overlooked problem in modern French intellectual history: the problem of political and social foundation through religious fervor and sacrificial violence. Jesse Goldhammer's book will be a standard reference in its area."—Allan Stoekl, Pennsylvania State University

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 218 pages
• Publisher: Cornell University Press (April 28, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0801441501
• ISBN-13: 978-0801441509
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.3 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,646,061 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Jesse Goldhammer was born in Los Angeles, California and grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area. Trained in political theory, Jesse has a longstanding interest in the genealogy of social, economic, and political power. He has taught in several universities, worked in the information technology sector, and is now a partner in a transnational management consulting firm. His first book, "The Headless Republic," examined the role of violence and sacrifice in French intellectual and political life. His most recent book, "Deviant Globalization," explores the underlying forces that enable a wide variety of illicit global flows, including drugs, weapons, and toxic waste.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Bringing Violence to Law and Politics., June 12, 2005

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The Jurisprude "Roger Berkowitz" (Red Hook, NY) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: The Headless Republic: Sacrificial Violence in Modern French Thought (Hardcover)

Law, writes Robert Cover, "takes place on a battlefield of pain and death." The power of violence, Cover saw,is jurisgenerative. Violence, in other words, has the power to found law. In a fascinating new book, "The Headless Republic," Jesse Goldhammer explores the French tradition of thinking about sacrificial violence and its role in the foundation of political and legal authority. Goldhammer traces the idea of violence as a pregnant and generative political impulse from its roots in the French revolution through the works of the social and political theorists Joseph de Maistre, George Sorel, and Georges Bataille. This book is not only well written, it will make you think about the importance and danger of violence in our world.