Revolutions: A New History

by Donald Sassoon

Revolutions is a sparkling account of political upheaval and the power of history. We think of revolutions as events, like the Fall of the Bastille or the Storming of the Winter Palace. In reality they take decades to burn out, if they ever do. Donald Sassoon engagingly reappraises some of the most celebrated. The English Civil War that killed a king and inaugurated parliamentary rule. The American War of Independence that ejected the British but ignored slavery. The French Revolution that gave us the Rights of Man and years of instability. The national revolutions that unified Italy and Germany. The Russian and Chinese Revolutions that changed the twentieth century. He adroitly compares these landmarks to the rebellions, coups and tumults that time forgot.

It is a history rich in irony. How 'Yankee Doodle Dandy' was first sung by English troopers to make fun of dishevelled American colonials. How 'revolution' became a word de jour, when no one has convincingly defined what it means. As Sassoon shows in this tour de force account, they usually catch revolutionaries themselves by surprise. and the consequences of them are difficult to fathom. Revolutions will change the way you think about the transformative moments in history, both big and small.

Genres: History, Nonfiction

544 pages, Hardcover

First published November 18, 2025

About the author

Donald Sassoon is Emeritus Professor of Comparative European History at Queen Mary, University of London.

Reviews

[Wyatt Browdy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good book but Verso really needs to clean up the editing. I think the definition of revolution is too loose (see Perry Anderson’s Modernity and Revolution)