Mme de Staël

During the French Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars, Germaine de Staël's troubled personal and public life singled her out as one of the most noteworthy characters, and greatest political writers of her epoch. She recommended wise policies seeking to bring stability to a perturbed France. Not only were her words ignored but she was persecuted as a woman, and held responsible for plots, riots and satirical pamphlets with which she had no connection. Her publications, promoting individual liberty, freedom of religion, freedom of speech, and equality for women, brought her into direct conflict with the dictator Napoleon Bonaparte. Her confrontation with Napoleon eventually forced her to flee, making her a celebrity throughout Europe. There are many books about Mme de Staël, but nothing published recently in English. In the highly troubled waters of the French Revolution, she promoted Republican policies, but because she remained faithful to all her friends was often accused of being a Royalist. Tens of thousands of political figures of all parties were guillotined – but Mme de Staël survived.