Saturday was Bastille Day, the French holiday commemorating a pivotal moment of the French Revolution: The storming of the Bastille prison. But in addition to remembering the revolutionaries with a ...

It’s no secret that food is political. Everyday commodities, including food, have the power to uproot, shatter and recreate societies. A particularly dramatic example of food upending the status quo ...

About a year ago, I started what I intended to be an occasional series about landmark food-related moments in history. Then I forgot and, although Amanda and I have certainly written about food's role ...

1. The quality that makes Jules Michelet’s history so powerful is what the French call souffle—literally, breath; figuratively, inspiration, creativity, energy. Michelet understood the French ...

The period between the fall of the Gironde, 31 May 1793, to the execution of Babeuf four years later saw the unfolding of the first modern class conflict. The new bourgeoisie back-tracked from the ...

For centuries, historians have debated whether the “Great Fear” panic in the early days of the French Revolution was driven by the mass hysteria of ignorant peasants or a rational response to the ...

The display is timed for the anniversary of France’s abolition of the death penalty, and its honoring of the lawyer who ...