The Revolution to Come

A History of an Idea from Thucydides to Lenin

Dan Edelstein

$55

Hardback

Forthcoming
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English

Princeton University Pres
01 August 2025

General & world history; Revolutions, uprisings, rebellions; Philosophy; Political science & theory

How an event once considered the greatest of all political dangers came to be seen as a solution to all social problems

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.

By: Dan Edelstein
Imprint: Princeton University Pres
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions: Height: 235mm, Width: 156mm,
ISBN: 9780691231853
ISBN 10: 0691231850
Pages: 432
Publication Date: 01 August 2025
Audience: General/trade , Professional and scholarly , General/trade , ELT Advanced , Undergraduate
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Forthcoming

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.

Reviews for The Revolution to Come: A History of an Idea from Thucydides to Lenin

""[An] engrossing tour de force. . . . Edelstein illuminates the fundamental dilemma at the heart of ancient and modern revolutions: the deep social conflicts that trigger political upheaval do not disappear in the aftermath of revolution, even as revolution sweeps aside those institutions needed to foster consensus.""---G. John Ikenberry, Foreign Affairs ""The Revolution to Come is a trenchant intellectual history of the modern revolutionary project, seeking to explain both its tendency toward slaughter and its fatal attraction to despotism. The book is sweeping in scale, fascinating in detail and equivocal in its implications.""---Jeffrey Collins, Wall Street Journal