Maclellan, Nic. Louise Michel.

MACLELIAN, Nic, ed. Louise Michel. (Rebel Lives.) Ocean Books. 118p. bibliog. c2004. 1-876175-76-1. $11.95. SA

Louise Michel, a relatively unknown figure outside of her native France, was an activist, an anarchist, and a fighter against racism who is known principally for her role in the short-lived French Commune in the spring of 1871. A local rebellion, the Paris Commune was a reaction against the provisional government set up by the French after the defeat of Napoleon III by the Prussian armies in the Franco-Prussian War. Michel, a schoolteacher who had read widely in political theory, was fully embroiled in this brief moment of revolutionary ferment, organizing meetings, writing tracts, speaking, and even firing her gun as a fighter in the ranks. Deported to New Caledonia at the fall of the Commune, she continued to write; and alone among her fellow deportees, championed the native Kanaks, a local tribe that attempted to rebel against French colonial rule. Back in France, she continued to live as she believed, traveling and speaking for the radical and anarchist causes she promoted.

What makes the Rebel Lives series valuable is its presentation of primary source material once the historical background has been carefully laid out in an introduction. Not only are excerpts from Michel's autobiography and letters included, but also brief pieces taken from the works of Engels and Marx writing on the Commune as well as short citations from many others, including Lenin, Emma Goldman (who calls Michel "a complete woman"), and Howard Zinn. Selected reading lists contain books and Web sites in both French and English. A unique resource. Patricia Moore, Brookline, MA