Introduction: reading and writing a history of punishment -- pt. 1. The roots of modern punishment in pre-modern Europe -- The fall and rise of Rome: compensation, atonement, and deterrence in the early middle ages -- Criminal intent and spectacular punishment: the infiltration of Roman legal theory and practice into French customary law -- pt. 2. Executioners and the ritual of execution -- Extraordinary beings: the life and work of executioners -- The execution of justice: the ritual of punishment in medieval and early modern France -- pt. 3. Spectators and spectacle -- From ritual to spectacle: the rise of the penal voyeur in early modern France -- Executions, spectator emotions, and the naturalization of sympathy -- A spectacular crisis: watching executions in the age of Sensibilité -- pt. 4. A death penalty for the modern age -- Theorizing a new death penalty: penal reform on the eve of the revolution -- Legislating the new death penalty: the simple deprivation of life -- Executing the new death penalty: the invisible spectacle of the guillotine -- Epilogue: The play over, the actors (slowly) leave the stage -- Conclusion: Punishment past and present.