The Revolution to Come: A History of an Idea from Thucydides to Lenin

Edelstein, Dan

ISBN 10: 0691231850 / ISBN 13: 9780691231853

Published by Princeton University Press (edition ), 2025

About this Item

With dust jacket. The item is brand new, never used or read. It's in perfect condition and may include supplements and/or access codes or come shrink-wrapped.

Seller Inventory # 0691231850-10-1-29

Bibliographic Details

• Title: The Revolution to Come: A History of an Idea from Thucydides to Lenin
• Publisher: Princeton University Press (edition )
• Publication Date: 2025
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0691231850
• ISBN 13: 9780691231853
• Binding: Hardcover
• Condition: New
• Dust Jacket Condition: Dust Jacket Included

About this title

Synopsis

How an event once considered the greatest of all political dangers came to be seen as a solution to all social problems

Political thinkers from Plato to John Adams saw revolutions as a grave threat to society and advocated for a constitution that prevented them by balancing social interests and forms of government. The Revolution to Come traces how evolving conceptions of history ushered in a faith in the power of revolution to create more just and reasonable societies.

Taking readers from Greek antiquity to Leninist Russia, Dan Edelstein describes how classical philosophers viewed history as chaotic and directionless, and sought to keep historical change—especially revolutions—at bay. This conception prevailed until the eighteenth century, when Enlightenment thinkers conceived of history as a form of progress and of revolution as its catalyst. These ideas were put to the test during the French Revolution and came to define revolutions well into the twentieth century. Edelstein demonstrates how the coming of the revolution leaves societies divided over its goals, giving rise to new forms of violence in which rivals are targeted as counterrevolutionaries.

A panoramic work of intellectual history, The Revolution to Come challenges us to reflect on the aims and consequences of revolution and to balance the value of stability over the hope for change in our own moment of fear and upheaval.

About the Author

Dan Edelstein is the William H. Bonsall Professor of French and (by courtesy) professor of political science and of history at Stanford University. His many books include On the Spirit of Rights and The Terror of Natural Right: Republicanism, the Cult of Nature, and the French Revolution.