Remembering Early Modern Revolutions

Reviews / Votes

'Edward Vallance has assembled a very interesting collection of essays that range widely in time and space. Together they explore the role of scholars and wider publics in shaping the memory of revolution; how those memories help shape the experience and understanding of subsequent events; and how those experiences of later revolutions in turn contribute to re-shaping the memory of earlier events. They offer important reflections on the history and historiography of each of these sets of events, on the construction and mutation of public memory more broadly, and on recent arguments about the nature of 'revolution' as a general historical phenomenon.'

Michael Braddick, The University of Sheffield, UK.

'The afterlives of revolutions have been somewhat neglected by historians, and the very idea that they had significant legacies has sometimes been challenged. As this fascinating collection demonstrates, however, it is important to recognise how the past could exert an influence on people's imaginations for decades and even centuries, helping to structure, guide and constrain human thought and action. What emerges are the myriad ways in which meanings evolved and became contested, as these turbulent periods were remembered and forgotten, revived, re-evaluated and re-purposed, and used to reflect on the present as well as on the future, not to mention translated into different contexts, simplified and mythologised. This all makes for intriguing and thought-provoking reading.'

Jason Peacey, University College London, UK