 The American Ambassador in Paris during the Commune, Elihu Washburne, writing in his personal diary which is quoted at length in noted historian David McCullough's book, "The Greater Journey" (Simon & Schuster 2011), described the Communards as "brigands", "assassins", and "scoundrels"; "I have no time now to express my detestation... [T]hey threaten to destroy Paris and bury everybody in its ruins before they will surrender.