New Books in History Dan Edelstein, "The Revolution to Come: A History of an Idea from Thucydides to Lenin" (Princeton UP, 2025)
Dec 10, 2025
Dan Edelstein, the William H. Bonsall Professor of French at Stanford, discusses his new work, exploring how philosophical views on revolution evolved from ancient chaos to modern progressivism. He examines Greek and Roman fears of revolution, the conservative nature of British transformations, and the Enlightenment's shift towards viewing history as progress. Edelstein highlights the complexities and risks of revolutions today, dissecting their implications on democracy and governance, while reflecting on lessons from 20th-century upheavals.
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Classical Fear Of Revolution
- Classical thinkers saw revolution as catastrophic disruption and sought durable constitutions to prevent change.
- Dan Edelstein links this to a cyclical view of history where stability, not progress, was the ideal.
Adams Quoting Thucydides Sparked The Book
- Dan Edelstein recounts John Adams quoting Thucydides to condemn revolution despite being a revolutionary himself.
- This paradox led Edelstein to trace the classical lineage of anti-revolutionary thought.
British Revolution Principles Shaped Anglo Politics
- British 'revolution principles' framed changes as restorations of a true constitution, not radical breaks.
- American constitutional design borrowed heavily from that conservative constitutionalism.
