Dr Wright tackles the many controversies surrounding the French Revolution. He also reviews the arguments of leading historians, and analyses some of the key documentary evidence on which they have based their judgements.

Is it light? Oh no. Is it difficult and dry? Nope, not that either. This is one of the books that is going to make you work a little at first if you're not already burning to know how Necker planned to solve the ancient regime's tax crisis or desperate to get some clarification on the Girondins versus the Montagnards.

No, it's not an easy start, but hang in there, because with this much information it's worth stretching out of pablum-mode. I don't think there's a single superfluous sentence in this book. (Something my classmates apparently concurred with, as I watched them highlight entire pages at times.) It's a lot to digest, but while it isn't a rollicking good time it also isn't plodding or, for that matter, very long.

The transcripts of important documents are a nice touch, as is the chronology, and the glossary, although brief, is vital to a beginner to this topic such as myself.

At the end of the day, can you really go wrong with a book that not only repeats the shouts of...where appropriate and explains the origins of Lobster Thermidor, but that also quickly disabuses the reader of any Dickensian notions of peasants rising and nobles guillotined? Ah no, here's the book that taught me it was the aristocrats that revolted first and that more peasant heads went lopping into the basket than any bewigged silk-wearers'...