New Book Salon: Colin Jones

Please note that the format of this event has changed; it will now take place on Zoom.

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Please join us to celebrate Colin Jones’s recent publication, (Oxford University Press, 2021). Jones will be joined in conversation by 3CT fellow William H. Sewell Jr., Paul Cheney, and Mauricio Tenorio.

The day of 9 Thermidor (27 July 1794) is universally acknowledged as a major turning point in the history of the French Revolution. At 12.00 midnight, Maximilien Robespierre, the most prominent member of the Committee of Public Safety which had for more than a year directed the Reign of Terror, was planning to destroy one of the most dangerous plots that the Revolution had faced.

By 12.00 midnight at the close of the day, following a day of uncertainty, surprises, upsets and reverses, his world had been turned upside down. He was an outlaw, on the run, and himself wanted for conspiracy against the Republic. He felt that his whole life and his Revolutionary career were drawing to an end. As indeed they were. He shot himself shortly afterwards. Half-dead, the guillotine finished him off in grisly fashion the next day.

The Fall of Robespierre provides an hour-by-hour analysis of these 24 hours.

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This event is organized by the Chicago Center for Contemporary Theory and co-sponsored by Seminary Co-op Bookstores. It is free and open to the public. Registration is required. Please email us at [email protected] if you require any accommodations to enable your full participation.

Host or Publisher Chicago Center for Contemporary Theory (3CT)