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.
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.
“In this enormously learned and deeply original book, a great historian of ideas has now produced his masterpiece: a profound and surprising study of how the phenomenon of revolution has been understood, from Greek antiquity to the twentieth century.”—David A. Bell, Princeton University
“In The Revolution to Come, Dan Edelstein explores the history of one of our key political concepts: revolution. Blending history, philosophy, and political theory, Edelstein explores how an idea that was long considered a divisive and dangerous phenomenon came to be thought of as the gateway to a new and improved future. A must-read for anyone interested in the past and worried about the future of democracy.”—Annelien de Dijn, author of Freedom: An Unruly History
“In a tour de force, Dan Edelstein brilliantly draws together the web of meanings of ‘revolution’ since the Greeks and offers a completely new interpretation of the changes the concept underwent in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. This is an erudite and impassioned work—the most important reconsideration of revolution (and of revolutions, especially that of 1789) in decades.”—Stefanos Geroulanos, author of The Invention of Prehistory: Empire, Violence, and Our Obsession with Human Origins
“In this magisterial book, Dan Edelstein delivers, with grace and élan, a master class in how to write the history of ideas over the longue durée. After tracing the past and the past-futures of the idea of revolution, he concludes on an ominous note: the greatest revolutions are sometimes silent, and we may be living through one now.”—Darrin M. McMahon, author of Equality: The History of an Elusive Idea
“Long repudiated for their catastrophic risks, revolutions in modern times could inspire hope and optimism. Dan Edelstein’s erudite and exciting new exploration turns on how the Enlightenment theory of progress revolutionized the very idea of revolution. But it doubles as an accessible and wide-ranging study of continuity and change in Western political thought by a master of his craft.”—Samuel Moyn, Yale University
