The Dynamite Club: How a Bombing in Fin-de-Siecle Paris Ignited the Age of Modern Terror by John Merriman

From the Publisher

The fascinating story of a long-forgotten "war on terror" that has much in common with our own

On a February evening in 1894, a young radical intellectual named Émile Henry drank two beers at an upscale Parisian restaurant, then left behind a bomb as a parting gift. This incident, which rocked the French capital, lies at the heart of The Dynamite Club, a mesmerizing account of Henry and his cohorts and the war they waged against the bourgeoisie—setting off bombs in public places, killing the president of France, and eventually assassinating President McKinley in 1901.

Paris in the belle époque was a place of leisure, elegance, and power. Newly electrified, the city’s wide boulevards were lined with posh department stores and outdoor cafés. But prosperity was limited to a few. Most lived in dire poverty, and workers and intellectuals found common cause in a political philosophy—anarchism—that embraced the overthrow of the state by any means necessary.

Yet in targeting civilians to achieve their ends, the dynamite bombers charted a new course. Seeking martyrdom, believing fervently in their goal, and provoking a massive government reaction that only increased their ranks, these "evildoers" became, in effect, the first terrorists in modern history.

Surprising and provocative, The Dynamite Club is a brilliantly researched account that illuminates a period of dramatic social and political change—and subtly asks us to reflect upon our own.

Publishers Weekly

Those who think of terrorism as an inexplicable evil produced by an alien culture will have their eyes opened by this fascinating study of 19th-century anarchist terrorists. Yale historian Merriman (History of Modern Europe) tells the story of Émile Henry, a well-educated young man from a politically radical family who tossed a bomb into a crowded Paris cafe in 1894. In Merriman's portrait, Henry emerges as an understandable, if not sympathetic, figure-a sensitive dreamer whose outrage at the misery of the poor curdled into a fanatical hatred of bourgeois society. He found a home in Europe's percolating anarchist movement, whose adherents celebrated a cult of revolutionary violence and sang hymns to "Lady Dynamite"; their bombings and assassinations set off a wave of panic and police repression. Merriman's account frames an illuminating study of working-class radicalism in belle époque France and its bitter conflict with the establishment in an age when class warfare was no metaphor. It's also an absorbing true crime story, with Dostoyevskian overtones, about high ideals that motivate desperate acts. Photos. (Feb. 12)

Maria C. Bagshaw - Library Journal

In the 21st century, we are concerned with economic and social inequalities and rapid technological change-but so were those living in 1890s Europe. With tension building between "haves" and "have-nots," strong anarchist movements had gained momentum there, paving the way, says Merriman, for the tactics used in today's age of modern terror. Merriman (history, Yale Univ.; A History of Modern Europe) leads the reader through a succinct history of anarchism and the rise of dynamite during this period. He uses young anarchist Emile Henry to epitomize this troubled period. Henry was the first individual to use indiscriminate terrorist means (by throwing dynamite into a crowd) to promote a particular social agenda; previously, most acts of violence by anarchists and other groups were directed at the police, heads of state, or the upper classes. Merriman's account complements other sources on the history of terrorism (e.g., Walter Laqueur's History of Terrorism) by putting a human face on this and other anarchist acts. Well told and thoroughly researched at the National Archives of Britain and France, this work is recommended for academic collections or public libraries collecting comprehensively on this aspect of history.

Kirkus Reviews

Chronicle of the 1894 bombing of an upscale Parisian cafe, which set a deadly pattern for the subsequent quarter-century and beyond. Merriman (History/Yale Univ.; The Stones of Balazuc, 2002, etc.) begins with Emile Henry (1872-94) packing a metal lunchbox with dynamite. "This book is motivated by a very simple question," he writes. "Why did Emile Henry do what he did?" The answer involves enormous social and economic inequality that the author sees still flourishing today. Echoing John Edwards, Merriman describes "two cities . . . the ‘People's Paris' of the east and the increasingly chic neighborhoods of the west." Henry, a young intellectual whose straitened family circumstances prevented him from getting a higher education, was disenchanted with the corrupt bourgeois society he saw around him. He turned to anarchism, a philosophy that declared "whoever lays a hand on me to govern me is a usurper and a tyrant," and advocated violent resistance to the state. There had been anarchist bombings, including one of a police station by Henry, before he threw his handmade explosive into the Cafe Terminus on February 12, but their targets had been government officials or the wealthy; this was a random attack on ordinary people. Chased in the streets by a waiter and several passersby, Henry was collared by a doughty gendarme, pummeled and taken to the local police station. He spent his days in custody reading Zola, Dumas, Spencer and Dostoevsky. Even his most bitter opponents, notes Merriman, were impressed by his articulate and confident, even arrogant, speeches during his trial. Nonetheless, judgment was quick, followed by an appointment with the "national razor." Henry became a martyr to thosebelieving in "propaganda by the deed"; one month after his execution, a knife-wielding anarchist killed French president Sadi Carnot. Anarchist attacks on individuals and public places terrorized Europe and America in the years before, during and immediately after World War I. Brisk and well-written, continually directing our attention toward contemporary analogues.

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