The holy mission of the Maid of Orleans is recreated in this, one of the greatest of the books on Joan. Jules Michelet captures the hardships of battle, the glory of victory, the disillusion of imprisonment. Her betrayal and martyrdom at the stake have an enduring mood of beauty and brutality. Albert Guerard's sensitive translation offers the first complete English rendition of this classic nineteenth-century work.

Jules Michelet, 1798-1874, noted French historian, is perhaps best known for his Histoire de la revolution francaise (1847-53) and his Histoire de France (1833-67).

The late Albert Guerard was professor of comparative literature and lecturer in French civilization at Stanford University. His many books include Europe Free and United, Napoleon III, Education of a Humanist, and France: A Modern History.