Perseus Academic: How Revolutionary Were the Bourgeois Revolutions? by Neil Davidson

I was frankly poleaxed by this magnificent book. Davidson resets the entire debate on the character of revolutions: bourgeois, democratic, and socialist. He's sending me, at least, back to the library. — MIKE DAVIS, author, Planet of Slums

Davidson's book is one of immense and impressive erudition. His knowledge of the history of Marxist theory and historiography is as detailed as it is comprehensive, and must be well-nigh unrivalled. The endless, complex debates that characterize the Marxist tradition are distilled with clarity and illumination. — JEREMY JENNINGS, Times Literary Supplement

What should our conception of a bourgeois revolution be, if it is to enlighten rather than to mislead ? Neil Davidson's instructive and provocative answer is given through a history both of a set of concepts and of those social settings in which they found application.His book is an impressive contribution both to the history of ideas and to political philosophy. — ALASDAIR MACINTYRE, author, After Virtue

Neil Davidson wends his way through the jagged terrain of a wide range of Marxist writings and debates to distill their lessons in what is unquestionably the most thorough discussion of the subject to date. If the paradox at the heart of the bourgeois revolutions was that the emergence of the modern bourgeois state had little to do with the agency of the bourgeoisie, then Davidson's study is by far the most nuanced and illuminating discussion of this complex fact.A brilliant and fascinating book, wide-ranging and lucidly written. — JAIRUS BANAJI, author, Theory as History

[This] is a monumental work. Neil Davidson has given us what is easily the most comprehensive account yet of the \' life and times' of the concept of \' bourgeois revolution.' … This would have been enough. However, Davidson has also provided us with a refined set of theoretical tools for understanding the often complex interactions between political revolutions which overturn state institutions and social revolutions which involve a more thoroughgoing transformation of social relations.

— COLIN MOOERS, author, The Making of Bourgeois Europe

This is a book in the grand style…In addressing the question set by his title, Neil Davidson effortlessly displays analytical intelligence and erudition rare among historians of any persuasion. And the reader put off by the sheer size of the book will be reassured by Neil's easy, fluent style, plentifully interlarded with humour. If there were any doubts about Neil's calibre as a Marxist historian after his two books on Scottish history (which looms large in this work as well — no one could come away from it without knowing it was written by a Scot), and his numerous articles, these have now been removed. — ALEX CALLINICOS, International Socialism