"A provincial lawyer from Arras, Robespierre (1758-94) dominated France at the height of the Revolution - the event which, more than any other, has shaped modern history. In this book John Hardman gets behind the polished but chilly surface of the public persona by examining Robespierre at his desk rather than at the rostrum. "--BOOK JACKET. "Concentrating on Robespierre's administration rather than his rhetoric, the book offers not only an original analysis of its formidable protagonist, but also a dramatic vantage point from which to survey the main phase of the Revolution itself, from the fall of the ancien regime to the end of the Terror. "--BOOK JACKET.