How Revolutionary Were the Bourgeois Revolutions? Neil Davidson

Includes bibliographies and index

Once of central importance to the left historians and activists alike, the concept of the "bourgeois revolution" has recently come in for sustained criticism from both Marxists and conservatives. In this comprehensive rejoinder, Neil Davidson seeks to answer the question. How revolutionary were the bourgeois revolutions? by systematically examining the approach taken by a wide range of thinkers to explain their causes, outcomes, and content across the historical period from the sixteenth-century Reformation to twentieth-century decolonization. Through far-reaching research and comprehensive analysis, Davidson demonstrated that there is much at stake far from being a state issue for the history books, understanding these struggles of the past can offer insightful lessons for todays radicals. Neil Davidson teaches at the University of Strathclyde in Glasgow, Scotland. He is the author of The Origins of Scottish Nationhood (2000) and the Deutscher Prize winning Discovering the Scottish Revolution (2003). He is on the editorial board of the journal International Socialism. I was frankly poleaxed by this magnificent book. Davidson resets the entire debate on the character of revolutions: bourgeois, democratic, and socialist. Hes sending me, atleast, back to the library.-Mike Davis, author, Planet of Slums 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 Davidsons 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.