Massacre: The Life and Death of the Paris Commune

In the early morning of March 18, 1871, residents of Paris took to the streets of the city to begin a 64-day insurrection. Using an array of primary source documents, Merriman (history, Yale Univ; History of Modern Europe) expertly tells the story of violent class warfare through the eyes of participants and observers of the struggle. Following years of political, economic, and social turmoil brought on by war, industrialization, corruption, and poverty, the Paris Commune was the response of an increasingly radicalized urban working class to split away from a conservative national government. During their brief and fierce existence, the Communards attempted to establish a progressive social democracy, issuing prescient decrees that recognized both worker's and women's rights. Although short lived, the commune had significant implications, influencing politicians and theorists alike, Karl Marx included. It symbolized the last of the 19th-century revolutions that tore across Europe and foreshadowed the brutal, systematic repression of the 20th century.