{"product_id":"the-good-doctor-guillotin-marc-estrin-9781932961850","title":"The Good Doctor Guillotin","description":"The Good Doctor Guillotin follows five characters to a common destination--the scaffold at the first guillotining of the French Revolution: \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eDr. Guillotin, of course, a physician and member of the National Assembly, involved in many important events, including the Tennis Court Oath. Nicolas Pelletier, the first victim--or \"patient,\" as they were sometimes called, since the new beheading machine was seen as a humanitarian medical intervention in the state's technique of dealing death. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eFather Pierre, the cur  who accompanies Pelletier in his last days, a man torn between his religious commitment, and an equally strong commitment to the poor and their revolution. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eSanson, the famous executioner of Paris who, 9 months later would execute the king and retire from remorse. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eTobias Schmidt, builder of the new machine, a German piano maker working in Paris, a freethinker predicting the Terror that will follow, but allowing himself to initiate it. The revolution, after all, had reduced the sale of pianos. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eVarious other interesting figures briefly appear: \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eDamiens, Mozart, Mesmer, Louis XVI, the Marquis de Sade, Marat, Robespierre, Demoulins among them. The eighteenth century narrative is divided into several sections, each introduced by an essay in the author's voice, the first on five-ness and Pentagons; a second on hope and Utopia; a third on revolutionary violence; and a fourth on capital punishment. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eThis is no \"historical novel.\" It is, rather, a fictive meditation on a contemporary conundrum using an eighteenth century drum.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Marc Estrin\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 1932961852\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9781932961850\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Unbridled Books\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 09\/29\/2009\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 336\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 0.89lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 8.88h x 5.10w x 0.86d\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eReview Citation(s): \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003ePublishers Weekly\u003c\/i\u003e 07\/13\/2009 pg. 37\u003cbr\u003e\u003ci\u003eLibrary Journal\u003c\/i\u003e 09\/15\/2009 pg. 48","brand":"Marc Estrin","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":44057440583935,"sku":"9781932961850","price":14.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/2982\/9887\/files\/img_134fc88f-fb24-41bd-9498-8aaf67d96a3b.jpg?v=1685046992","url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/the-good-doctor-guillotin-marc-estrin-9781932961850","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}