Guillotine

Robert Frederick Opie takes the reader on a sometimes terrifying journey tracing the development of the guillotine over nearly two centuries, recounting the stories of famous executions and some of the most touching pleas for mercy.

Résumé
The guillotine is a most potent image of revolutionary France, the tool whereby a whole society was 'redesigned'. Tracing the development of the guillotine, this book recounts the stories of famous executions, the lives of the executioners, and the research into whether the head retained consciousness after it was separated from the body.