I picked a bad time to re-read Simon Schama’s excellent Citizens, a history of the French Revolution. In the wake of Brexit and the American election, everyone is making comparisons to 1933, but I wonder if we aren’t reliving 1789 instead. Demagogues and histrionic news outlets fanning the flames under an outraged and unthinking citizenry… Sound familiar? Here’s hoping the world can get back on track before the equivalent of 1792 comes about. There’s enough terror in the world as it is. Pictured is the statue of Jacobin leader Georges Danton on the boulevard Saint Germain in Paris.
