The jeunesse dorée, or "gilded youth," were a parallel militia recruited from the ranks of minor officials and small shopkeepers. They formed a distinctive subculture, defined by age and social origin, with their own forms of extravagant dress, their own anthem ("Le Réveil du Peuple"), their own affectations of speech, their own regular meeting-places in the cafés of the Palais-Royal, and even their own passwords, which were usually indirect references to Louis XVII. Gendron sees them as the shock-troops of the Thermidorian Convention, encouraged and sometimes employed by its Committee of General Security to force the pace of the reaction against the "terrorists," the sans-culottes. This provocation led to the uprisings of Germinal and Prairial and the consequent eviction of the sans-culottes from the political arena. Social historians such as Albert Soboul have written mainly about the sans-culottes at the peak of the Revolution. In focusing on the jeunesse dorée, Gendron highlights the ways in which, although initially used as a means to counteract the revolts of the sans-culottes, they were to become one of the driving forces of the reaction, carrying the Convention well beyond its political aims. This work, available in French since 1979, won the Médaille d'Argent du Prix Biguet (Académie Française). This translation will be welcomed by English-speaking historians and students of the French Revolution.

François Gendron's profile page

James Cookson's profile page

"Gendron's study of reactionary young men who were active during the Thermidorian reaction helps to round out our picture [of the French Revolution] ... The presentation is cogent and convincing." James A. Leith, Department of History, Queen's University. "Gendron's well-documented study ends with a distinction between historical objectivity and 'human neutrality': proclaiming his 'practical and militant' sympathy for the men and women who collapsed from hunger in the streets of Paris in the Year III, he affirms this to be no obstacle to a theoretical understanding of Thermidor." William Scott, Times Literary Supplement. "This is a useful work and a politically committed one. The narrative is at its best in the account of Prairial, the analysis most valuable in the account of Vendémiaire." Martyn Lyons, Journal of Modern History. "Here is political history of the best kind which ... provides another angle of vision on to the crucial events of the Year III by tracing the activity of the jeunesse back to anti-Montagnard and anti-recruitment disturbances in November 1792 and May 1793 and following it through to the final defeat in vendémiaire Year III." Historical Journal.

"Gendron's study of reactionary young men who were active during the Thermidorian reaction helps to round out our picture [of the French Revolution] ... The presentation is cogent and convincing." James A. Leith, Department of History, Queen's University.
"Gendron's well-documented study ends with a distinction between historical objectivity and 'human neutrality': proclaiming his 'practical and militant' sympathy for the men and women who collapsed from hunger in the streets of Paris in the Year III, he affirms this to be no obstacle to a theoretical understanding of Thermidor." William Scott, Times Literary Supplement.
"This is a useful work and a politically committed one. The narrative is at its best in the account of Prairial, the analysis most valuable in the account of Vendémiaire." Martyn Lyons, Journal of Modern History.
"Here is political history of the best kind which ... provides another angle of vision on to the crucial events of the Year III by tracing the activity of the jeunesse back to anti-Montagnard and anti-recruitment disturbances in November 1792 and May 1793 and following it through to the final defeat in vendémiaire Year III." Historical Journal.