Context:

The episode opens with a quotation from this novel describing the guillotine. The hosts use it to introduce the topic of the guillotine as a symbol of the French Revolution in the English-speaking world.

Context:

Referenced alongside Burke and Carlyle as British writers who told the French Revolution story through the perspective of the aristocracy: 'They love to tell the story through the eyes, you know, with a sense of horror, fascinated horror at the revolution.'

Context:

Referenced when discussing stereotypes and caricatures of the French Revolution and the French elite, suggesting that if one had read this book, they might have incorrect assumptions about the aristocracy's response to the crisis.

Context:

Described as 'one of the most influential books on our perception of history that has ever been written' regarding the French Revolution

Context:

Referenced alongside Pride and Prejudice as having a famous opening and noted as having 'quite a political resonance'

Context:

One of the hosts mentions reading it during lockdown, describing being moved to tears by the ending

Context:

Briefly referenced as having quotations appear in The Dark Knight Rises Batman film, mentioned in context of discussing the politics of superhero narratives

Context:

Mentioned as representing the British/Dickensian view of the French Revolution, and referenced as the book Margaret Thatcher gave to Mitterrand at the bicentenary

Context:

Argued to be the single most influential novel on how English-speaking world understands the French Revolution

Context:

Tom mentions reading it 'for the first time since school' before Christmas, discussing how Dickens explains the French Revolution as a kind of conspiracy