In 1988 he brought out a book entitled "La révolution Française racontée aux enfants" [The French Revolution Retold for Children], published by Éditions Perrin. Without dismissing Revolutionary atrocities, he still manages to justify them to some extent: "We cannot approve of orders like these that strike chill into our hearts even today. We are, it is true, judging these actions at a distance of two centuries, in the comfort of a country at peace. To try and understand them, we must take into account the anger that caused the uprising of the members of the Convention who //judged it unforgivable for Frenchmen to shoot other Frenchmen in the back. // Carnot knew that the Vendeans shot their prisoners, that they threw Republican soldiers into wells alive and that their wives gouged out the eyes of the wounded, and a terrible anger seized him."

Five years after this "magnificent" speech, Alain Decaux was at Les Lucs de Boulogne for the inauguration of the Memorial to the victims of the Vendée Wars. In a text read by Jean Piat, Decaux described in graphic detail the savagery of the Republican troops and their mercilessness towards women and children. A few metres away from the podium, I was stunned by this sudden about-turn.Yet, back in January 1988, the same historian had devoted a "tribune de l'histoire" [historical trial] on France Inter radio to Charette, castigating the Vendean leader for having shot Republican prisoners. Even if this was so, Decaux failed to put it into context. Against odds of 20 to 1, Charette was fighting soldiers who had tracked him for months and were determined to get him. And these were soldiers, not unarmed women and children.