A study of the guillotine as a cultural artifact, examining its representation in the arts, both high and low, over the course of two centuries.

A study of the guillotine as a cultural artifact, examining its representation in the arts, both high and low, over the course of two centuries.

Illustration by a fellow prisoner. The text in this volume is based on the original translation from the French by Preston Rambo.

The guillotine is a most potent image of revolutionary France, the tool whereby a whole society was 'redesigned'. Tracing the development of the guillotine, thi

How long did the guillotine's blade hang over the heads of French criminals? Was it abandoned in the late 1800s? Did French citizens of the early days of the tw