Exodus & Revolution

From a pre-eminent political philosopher, a moving meditation on the biblical story of Exodus and its powerful lessons for those seeking political change. 

“A rewarding book―elegantly written, subtly argued, full of stimulating suggestions.”―New York Times

The biblical book of Exodus is the West's oldest and most enduring story of liberation and, as Michael Walzer argues, its first and most influential work of radical politics. Against messianic visions of sudden deliverance, Walzer recovers Exodus as a realist's guide to political change, one that takes seriously how slow and painful the process of emancipation can be. Moving across the centuries, he shows how everyone from Puritan revolutionaries to civil-rights preachers to Latin American theologians have all found in this ancient text a template for their own struggle. The result is both a strikingly original reading of a familiar text and a profound meditation on the necessarily gradual and fraught road from oppression to deliverance.

Michael Walzer is Professor Emeritus of Social Science at the Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, New Jersey, and the author of many widely heralded books, including Just and Unjust Wars and Spheres of Justice. He lives in Princeton, New Jersey.