author
Jean Paul Marat
1743–1793
A fiery voice of the French Revolution, this physician-turned-journalist became famous for fierce political writing and a relentless defense of ordinary people in Paris. His dramatic life and violent death helped turn him into one of the Revolution’s most unforgettable figures.
3 Audiobooks
About the author
Born in Boudry, near Neuchâtel, on May 24, 1743, Jean-Paul Marat trained as a physician and also worked on scientific writing before politics made him famous. He spent years in Britain and later settled in France, bringing together medicine, research, and a sharp, argumentative style that would define his public life.
During the French Revolution, Marat became a powerful radical journalist and political figure. Through his newspaper L'Ami du peuple (The Friend of the People), he attacked enemies of the Revolution and spoke passionately for the sans-culottes, the working people of Paris. His writing was urgent, combative, and deeply influential, helping make him a leader among the Montagnards.
Marat was killed in Paris on July 13, 1793, when Charlotte Corday stabbed him in his bath, a scene later made famous in art as The Death of Marat. His reputation has remained sharply divided ever since: to some he was a defender of the people, and to others a symbol of revolutionary extremism.