In the Name of Liberty: A Story of the Terror

Owen McMahon JohnsonProject Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

Rating 3.3
Word count
424K words
Chapters
43

Tags

English Originals Historical Fiction Historical ReappraisalMilitary StrategyFate and FortuneHeroismReign of TerrorFrench Revolution

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.In the Name of Liberty: A Story of the Terror by Owen JohnsonAuthor: Johnson, Owen, 1878-1952,Language: English, Class: PS: Language and Literatures: American and Canadian literature, Release Date: Jun 25, 2014

Editor's review

This is Owen Johnson's historical novel set against the Reign of Terror during the French Revolution, originally published in English and released free by Project Gutenberg. The work places individual fates within the turmoil of revolution and political purges, and through the irony of the title "in the name of liberty" it presents the tension between idealistic slogans and violent reality. As a historical narrative by an early twentieth-century American writer, its value lies in recreating, through fiction, the social atmosphere and moral dilemmas of the Terror; it suits readers interested in the French Revolution, historical fiction, and reading the original English. While reading, one may follow the plot and also notice how the author uses his characters' choices to discuss the boundaries of liberty, justice, and the abuse of power. Because it is a public-domain e-book without modern annotation, readers with some English proficiency and a basic grounding in French Revolutionary history will have a fuller experience.

Who it's for

A good fit for

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Reading tips

  1. Spend ten minutes first on the basic timeline of the Reign of Terror, then enter the plot.
  2. While reading, note how the main characters' choices change under the slogan of "liberty" to grasp the theme.
  3. Read alongside historical sources from the same period to distinguish fictional invention from historical fact.
  4. With the English original, read a whole paragraph for its gist before pausing over long sentences; don't stop at every word.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

Contents

  1. 1
  2. 2
  3. 3
  4. 4
  5. 5
  6. 6
  7. 7
  8. 8
  9. 9
  10. 10
  11. 11
  12. 12
  13. 13
  14. 14
  15. 15
  16. 16
  17. 17
  18. 18
  19. 19
  20. 20
  21. 21
  22. 22
  23. 23
  24. 24
  25. 25
  26. 26
  27. 27
  28. 28
  29. 29
  30. 30
  31. 31
  32. 32
  33. 33
  34. 34
  35. 35
  36. 36
  37. 37
  38. 38
  39. 39
  40. 40
  41. 41
  42. 42
  43. 43

FAQ

Is this book a work of history or a novel? It is a historical novel set during the Reign of Terror of the French Revolution, not a rigorous work of historiography. Readers may treat the plot and characters as literary fiction while using relevant historical sources to understand the era; it should not be cited directly as a historical source.
How difficult is the English original? The work dates from the early twentieth century, with a somewhat traditional style and long sentences, but the narrative is strong overall. Readers with intermediate English who are used to public-domain novels can attempt it; if unfamiliar with the French Revolution, it is best to read a little basic history first.
What are the features of the Gutenberg edition? This edition is released free by Project Gutenberg as a public-domain e-book, easy to obtain and carry. It usually contains no modern introduction, notes, or chronology, so readers must supply the background themselves; it suits those who already have some historical preparation.

This site is an index: you start “Search all sources” in your browser, and the entries it lists all point to third-party sites; please judge their availability yourself.

About the author

Owen McMahon Johnson Author · American · 1878–1952

Owen Johnson (1878–1952) was an American novelist and short-story writer, born in New York, the son of the poet Robert Underwood Johnson. A Yale graduate, he became known for the "Dink Stover" series set at the Lawrenceville School and Yale, including The Varmint, Skippy Bedelle, and Stover at Yale, as well as works such as The Salamander and Making Money. His fiction often draws on school and campus life and youthful coming-of-age, written in a light, humorous vein with an eye for social reality; some works also touch on historical and mystery themes, such as In the Name of Liberty and Murder in Any Degree. He served as a war correspondent during World War I and died in Massachusetts in 1952.