In the first biography of Danton in over forty years, the historian David Lawday reveals the tragic, larger-than-life figure who joined the fray at the storming of the Bastille in 1789 at age twenty-nine and was dead five years later.

Originally published: Danton : the gentle giant of terror / David Lawday. London : Jonathan Cape, 2009.

Paris : 15 July 1789 -- Bullfights -- Doing the Palais -- Questions for a bourgeois gentleman -- Jumping upon a tide -- The Cordelier Republic -- Travails of a people's champion -- A wilful woman in the way -- The Revolution at war -- The end of a thousand-year throne -- Courage, patriots! -- Long live the Republic -- The execution of a king -- Flames in Flanders -- In the green room -- Exit moderates -- The Rule of Terror -- Fight to the death -- The cornered bull -- Trial and execution.