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Podcast: New Books in Western European Studies
Episode: Nicole Bauer, "Tracing the Shadow of Secrecy and Government Transparency in Eighteenth-Century France" (Palgrave Macmillan, 2022)
Description: Between September 1793 and July 1794, the French politicians and even the general public seemed positively overcome by the urge to denounce their peers: helping so-called crimes, devious machinations, and secret plots come to light. When the so-called “Reign of Terror” ended, however, liberal, radical, and conservative critics of the era alike continued to suggest that the problem was not an excess of public denunciations, but so many shadowy dealings that had yet to be revealed. By early nineteenth century France, transparency had taken hold as an almost necessary precondition to government legitimacy and public trust.In her new book...