The Revolution to Come: A History of an Idea from Thucydides to Lenin by Dan Edelstein (Author)

📖 Title Name: The Revolution to Come: A History of an Idea from Thucydides to Lenin
✍️ Author: Dan Edelstein
📦 Quality: A5 Matt Paper

🔹 Introduction:

The Revolution to Come by Dan Edelstein is a powerful intellectual history that traces the idea of political revolution across centuries—from classical antiquity to modern Marxist thought. Rather than focusing on revolutions as events, the book explores revolution as an evolving idea, showing how thinkers like Thucydides, Machiavelli, Rousseau, and Lenin shaped humanity’s understanding of radical political change. It offers a deep, scholarly, yet readable account of how revolutionary thinking transformed politics and society.

🔑 Key Points:

• Examines the concept of revolution from ancient Greek history to modern ideology.

• Explores how revolution shifted from cyclical political change to a future-oriented ideal.

• Analyzes influential thinkers including Thucydides, Hobbes, Rousseau, and Marx.

• Highlights the role of Enlightenment philosophy in shaping modern revolutionary thought.

• Connects theoretical ideas of revolution with real political movements and leaders like Lenin.

🏛️ Conclusion:

Dan Edelstein’s The Revolution to Come is an essential work for readers interested in political philosophy, intellectual history, and revolutionary ideas. By uncovering how revolution became a promise of future transformation, the book deepens our understanding of modern politics and ideological change, making it a valuable resource for students, scholars, and critical thinkers.