A short essay, very bright and iconoclastic.

This book is very emblematic of the work of Henri Guillemin, I recommend reading in general.
Here it is above all a very short essay (reads in two hours) which will revert the French Revolution as a bourgeois revolution and totally forgetful of the popular and plebeian masses. The idea is not new but it is here stated very clearly, soberly with the particular style of H.Guillemin, that is to say, very alert, full of humor and sarcasm. Reading is so easy and very rewarding. However, it is regrettable the absence of critical apparatus for this test written for the bicentenary of the Revolution. Thus in 1989, while we pursue the construction of a popular revolution made by the people for his own good, humanistic and universal (with the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen whenever highlighted) Guillemin takes the old thesis of the bourgeois revolution, gravedigger act of the mob from the outset and will assert as a real popular and plebeian revolution only as of August 10, 1792 to July 27, 1794.
If he rehabilitates Robespierre, Guillemin is not a Marxist Robespierrist like Mathiez Soboul or Bouloiseau but a social Catholic who seem closest Radical Left of the Third Republic triumphant. Its purpose is mainly to mark the bourgeois forces of the Revolution: it is therefore not see a Marxist pamphlet, but what he sees as the only story of the drama of the working masses. The quotations of famous people he does to justify speech, are whenever relevant and illustrate this position.
Finally this essay is especially good for those who know very little of the Revolution (because there are few dates and technical arguments tedious), or for those who want a different bell sound on the Revolution and has since you long and muted before he may not die suffocated.
In short, a work essentially iconoclastic extension, an author too unknown and always extremely pleasant to read, even for the supporters of the liberal vision.