'revolution': The Entrance of a New Word Into Western Political Discourse

By Ilan Rachum

Although there are scores of books on the theme of revolution, Ilan Rachum's study is unique in its analysis from the perspective of political discourse. It examines how the term 'revolution' entered Western political vocabulary through a historical survey covering the early Renaissance to the French Revolution. Antecedents of the term 'revolution' originated in Italy, from where they spread with modifications to France and finally England. Rachum also examines the use and significance of the term during the Enlightenment, the emergence of the epithet 'American Revolution', and the rebounding effects of this term on French intellectuals on the eve of 1789. This fascinating study will excite historians, political scientists, and anyone with an interest in the history of ideas that have had a lasting impact on how we perceive and describe social change.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 076181504X
• ISBN13: 9780761815044
• Release Date: October 1999
• Publisher: University Press of America
• Length: 312 Pages
• Weight: 1.25 lbs.

Customer Reviews

On the Complicated History of the Word "Revolution"

Ilan Rachum's new book, "Revolution," is a well-written, thoughtful, and exceptionally well-researched history of the word "revolution" in Western thought. Rachum carefully traces the origins of the word in fourteenth-century Florence and focuses on how it was used in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries in England, France, and the United States. This book will be of great interest to European and American intellectual and cultural historians and to all those who want to learn about how the concept of revolution was introduced, debated, and finally accepted in Europe by the early nineteenth century.