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Virtue and Terror (Revolutions) Paperback – January 17, 2007

by Maximilien Robespierre (Author), Jean Ducange (Editor), John Howe (Translator)
4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars 50 ratings
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Robespierre’s defense of the French Revolution remains one of the most powerful and unnerving justifications for political violence ever written, and has extraordinary resonance in a world obsessed with terrorism and appalled by the language of its proponents. Yet today, the French Revolution is celebrated as the event which gave birth to a nation built on the principles of enlightenment. So how should a contemporary audience approach Robespierre’s vindication of revolutionary terror? Žižek takes a helter-skelter route through these contradictions, marshaling all the breadth of analogy for which he is famous.
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  1. Print length
    208 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Verso Books
  4. Publication date
    January 17, 2007
  5. Dimensions
    5 x 0.52 x 8 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    184467584X
  7. ISBN-13
    978-1844675845
  8. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Maximilien Robespierre is one of the best-known and most influential figures of the French Revolution. He was instrumental in the period of the Revolution commonly known as the Reign of Terror, which ended with his arrest and execution in 1794.

Slavoj Žižek is a Slovenian philosopher and cultural critic. He is a professor at the European Graduate School, International Director of the Birkbeck Institute for the Humanities, Birkbeck College, University of London, and a senior researcher at the Institute of Sociology, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia. His books include Living in the End Times, First as Tragedy, Then as Farce, In Defense of Lost Causes, four volumes of the Essential Žižek, and many more.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Verso Books; First Edition (January 17, 2007)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 208 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 184467584X
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1844675845
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 8 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5 x 0.52 x 8 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars 50 ratings

Customer reviews

4.4 out of 5 stars
50 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Drew Smith
5.0 out of 5 stars Is It Justified?
Reviewed in the United States on November 29, 2023
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Really helps one understand why the French did it.
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Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars Overthrow of yesterday's tyrant
Reviewed in the United States on April 5, 2017
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Excellent book!
It depicts the 17th hundreds tyranny, their wicked ways and their overthrow...
The funny thing is how the tyrant hasn't changed and how it resembles today's world (no country is exempt).
2 people found this helpful
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Robert Caldwell
4.0 out of 5 stars Four Stars
Reviewed in the United States on July 21, 2017
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I dislike Zizek in general but found this book useful
4 people found this helpful
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J. Schneider
5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
Reviewed in the United States on June 11, 2017
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Wonderful book and a great editor. I'm a fan of Zizeck et al.
One person found this helpful
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James Kalomiris, The Peripatetic Reader
5.0 out of 5 stars Unique and Important
Reviewed in the United States on September 20, 2020
For most of us, Robespierre is known for two things — the Reign of Terror and the Guillotine. This volume shows he was also a revolutionary thinker.
This offering by the philosopher Slavoj Zizek lifts the vale and presents the thoughts and times of Maximilian Robespierre. Yes, thoughts. This book is noteworthy in presenting the many speeches, polemics, newspaper articles and essays written by Robespierre. He was a member of Jacobins, an influential think-thank, the Constituent Assembly, a legislative body, and afterwards the Committee of Public Safety, another legislative body until his arrest and execution. The texts of many of these speeches are simply not readily available in English.

There is the introduction by Slavoj Zizek, who, in his inimitable manner presents his thoughts on the political philosophy of Robespierre. Robespierre was a true believer. In one selection, Zizek presents Robespierre’s On the Principles of Public Morality. It was an article written for the many political broadsheets which circulated at the time, and is perhaps the most important part of this collection. There, Robespierre in undisguised terms defended the use of terror by the revolutionary government. The underlying principle of democratically elected governments, he said, is Virtue. For revolutionary governments, it is Virtue and Terror. This is a sentiment that inspired terrorist groups from the Revolutionary Tribunal to the Al-Quaeda. It led to Robespierre’s own demise.

Lastly, it also contains a glossary of the name of notable person and institutions that existed in those revolutionary times. Many histories toss these names around without adequate definitions, and this glossary is a good resource. The glossary alone is worth the price of this volume. If not for the glossary, I would not recommend this book to beginners, but when used with Robespierre’s writings and speeches, gives General Readers a unique understanding of the French Revolution and its ideals.
7 people found this helpful
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Focusedwander904
1.0 out of 5 stars Three hundred year old book. Too old
Reviewed in the United States on November 14, 2018
Verified Purchase
Written difficult to read. Not relevant although people say we have them all the time. Not in the United States for some reason. Economics is more crucial.
3 people found this helpful
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JP
3.0 out of 5 stars it's good.
Reviewed in the United States on November 18, 2015
Verified Purchase
Arrived in a timely fashion. Book expands on observations laid out in In Defense Of Lost Causes, though with more specific and likely arbitrary examples. It's what one would expect. Only if you have the time to track down all the references will you be able to really judge the thought. But if you're willing to trust Zizek, it's good.
One person found this helpful
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Betty Wilson
3.0 out of 5 stars Three Stars
Reviewed in the United States on April 21, 2015
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What I needed for college class, but unable to sell it back!!!
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Top reviews from other countries

Amazon Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars A brilliant work of political theory with an interesting introduction
Reviewed in Canada on September 22, 2016
Verified Purchase
A brilliant work of political theory with an interesting introduction. I wish there was more of Robespierre's work translated into English.
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J. Mann
4.0 out of 5 stars Needs more context
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 19, 2014
Verified Purchase
I have to say I found this book somewhat disappointing. I'm sure the selection of writings by Robespierre can't be faulted, but I found the introduction - much as I love Zizek - rather unhelpful.

The writings by Robespierre are very much dictated by the events and circumstances of their times. To understand what he was writing about and the meaning of what he was saying needs a fair amount of further explanation, otherwise the reader is just left feeling rather confused as to what Robespierre is really saying.

I guess it could be said that you need to first read a book all about Robespierre and his life and thought and then read something like this, but I'l like it if someone with just a basic knowledge of the man the the period could pick it up and make sense of it.

This is why the Zizek introduction didn't really work for me. Zizek writes - it seems - for someone who already understands a lot of Robespierre and the period, so not so much as an introduction but a postscript. I'd rather have more explanation, more a sense of what the circumstances were when each piece was written and more explanation of the choices Robespierre was making.

Robespierre is an absolutely key figure in revolutionary thought. Do we need terror to free us from the old forms of thought? Do we need to drive through change with the threat of violence - this is how Cromwell ruled with the Rump Parliament for example. Without terror we might never have executed Charles I, and probably the French Royal Family may not have been executed either.

We also - in the case of Robespierre - need to consider that France prior to the revolution was ruled through terror - as any reader of "Tale of Two Cities" will tell you - and it could be argued that the people just wanted their revenge on the class that had terrorised them for hundreds of years. But is revenge the way to create a new society? Was Robespierre just trying to keep that revenge in check and through some form of political organisation?

These are all fascinating questions, but I'm afraid without more explanation within in the book I didn't find these writings illuminated the answers to any great degree.
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S B
1.0 out of 5 stars Not what I was expecting
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on May 29, 2021
Verified Purchase
I wish I had done more research before buying this. It’s literally a bunch of translated excerpts from Robespierre. I was looking for a book that would teach me about his life, chronologically ideally. The book certainly does not do this.
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