Jean Jaures was the celebrated French Socialist Party leader, assassinated in 1914 for trying to use diplomacy and industrial action to prevent the outbreak of war. Published just a few years before his death, his magisterial A Socialist History of the French Revolution has endured for over a century as one of the most influential accounts of the French Revolution ever to be published. This abridged translation of Jaures's original six volumes brings his exceptional work to an Anglophone audience for the first time. Written in the midst of his activities as leader of the Socialist Party and editor of its newspaper, L'Humanite, Jaures intended the book to serve as both a guide and an inspiration to political activity; even now it can serve to do just that. Abidor's accomplished translation and Jaures's verve, originality and willingness to criticize all players in this great drama make this a truly moving addition to the shelf of great books on the French Revolution.

Author Biography

Jean Jaures (1859-1914) was the leader of the French Socialist Party, which opposed Jules Guesde's revolutionary Socialist Party of France. An antimilitarist, Jaures was assassinated at the outbreak of World War I, and remains one of the main inspirations to the French left. His defining work was A Socialist History of the French Revolution (Pluto, 2015). Mitchell Abidor is a writer and translator living in Brooklyn, USA. Amongst his many works, he is the author of May Made Me (Pluto, 2018).