author
Lissagaray
1838–1901
A fiery French journalist and socialist, he is best remembered for writing one of the most influential firsthand histories of the Paris Commune. His work grew out of lived experience, political exile, and a determination to record events before they were rewritten by his enemies.
1 Audiobook
History of the Commune of 1871
by Lissagaray
About the author
Born in 1838, Prosper-Olivier Lissagaray was a French journalist, speaker, and revolutionary socialist who became closely associated with the Paris Commune of 1871. He took part in the Commune and later became one of its most important chroniclers.
After the Commune was crushed, he went into exile in England. There he gathered testimony from survivors and worked on the book that made his name, History of the Paris Commune of 1871, a vivid account shaped by both personal involvement and careful reporting.
Lissagaray returned to France after the political amnesty of 1880 and remained a well-known figure on the French left until his death in Paris in 1901. For many readers, he endures as a passionate witness to one of the most dramatic uprisings of the nineteenth century.