When we think of guillotines, our minds turn to scenes of the French Revolution, which have been graphically depicted in so many Hollywood movies. While it may have been inspired by the original ...

You’ve probably seen the guillotine in historical epics and Dickens adaptations. But were you aware that it struck a blow for egalitarianism in more than one way? The French believed the guillotine’s ...

In the U.S., capital punishment is resurgent. What lessons can we glean from France’s successful campaign to abolish it?

Forty years ago this week, France conducted its last execution by guillotine. A handsome Tunisian immigrant named Hamida Djandoubi was led to a bladed contraption and his head placed in the stock ...

A 150-year-old guillotine with “a few dents on the blade” will go under the hammer in Paris on Wednesday. The three-metre tall instrument of execution is in working order. Guillotines were used to ...

PARIS — Since the first blade plunged in 1792, the French guillotine has inspired dread and dark nicknames: the widow, the barber, the national razor. Now add a contemporary label: artistic muse. A ...