"In . . . his enthralling and cinematic account of a Paris cafe bombing in 1894, Merriman achieves that rare thing: virtuosic storytelling that doubles as superb history."—Kirk Davis Swinehart, Chicago Tribune
~Kirk Davis Swinehart, Chicago Tribune
"Historically eye-opening and psychologically insightful."—Chuck Leddy, Boston Globe
~Chuck Leddy, Boston Globe
"Those who think of terrorism as an inexplicable evil produced by an alien culture will have their eyes opened by this fascinating study of 19th-century anarchist terrorists."—San Francisco Examiner
~San Francisco Examiner
"Merriman's account frames an illuminating study of working-class radicalism in belle époque France and its bitter conflict with the establishment in an age when class warfare was no metaphor. It [is] an absorbing true crime story, with Dostoyevskian overtones, about high ideals that motivate desperate acts."—Publishers Weekly, starred review
~Publishers Weekly
"Reconstructing Henry's own attacks, Merriman allies a forensic eye with the texture of Paris de la belle époque, ably renders Henry's personality, and implicitly invites comparison of his with the mid-sets of contemporary terrorists."—Gilbert Taylor, Booklist
~Gilbert Taylor, Booklist
"Reading a book on nineteenth-century anarchism by John Merriman is a bit like reading one on the semicolon by Strunk and White…he is able to pack in riveting detail." —Bookforum
~Bookforum