Concise, convincing and exciting, this is Christopher Hibbert's brilliant account of the events that shook eighteenth-century Europe to its foundation. With a mixture of lucid storytelling and fascinating detail, he charts the French Revolution from its beginnings at an impromptu meeting on an indoor tennis court at Versailles in 1789, right through to the 'coup d'etat' that brought Napoleon to power ten years later.

In the process he explains the drama and complexities of this epoch-making era in the compelling and accessible manner he has made his trademark.

'A spectacular replay of epic action' Richard Holmes, The Times