Mike Rapport

A look at how political and social revolutions in the 18th century in London, Paris, and New York were fostered and succeeded—or didn't—thanks to the geographical and architectural environs in which they took place. This is kind of an intermittently interesting book, where I thought Mike Rapport's thesis was more convincing in some smaller case studies than the broad overarching one—or if not necessarily more convincing, then perhaps shed some more light on those individual case show more studies than it did on the grander history. I'm not sure I came away with new insight into this Age of Revolutions, though I did learn some things. show less

A cogent and clear recounting of a vital but all-too-forgotten period (in America, at least) in Europe's history, the 1848 wave of European revolutions when the people momentarily overthrew a dozen monarchs, only to be crushed again in a subsequent wave of counter-revolutions. The tale could easily have been lost among the dozens of names in different languages, but Rapport keeps a firm grasp on his storyline. His thesis is also relatively clear, with appropriate nuance: the revolutions show more succeeded because of genuine discontent with European governments that was channelled by a strong alliance of liberals and radicals — and then failed when that alliance fell apart and was unable to contend with the forces of reaction. Vital for understanding later events, such as the recent Arab Spring. show less

Very well done general history of the revolutions of 1848 and the counter-revolutions of 1849 that occurred in France, Germany, Italy, Austria, Hungary, Bohemia, Transylvania and various other outposts of the Hapsburg Empire. Rapport chronicles all the major events, and the leading actors treating each country or aspiring country in succession in each chapter. I was a little taken aback to learn that for a time Pope Pius IX was regarded as the focus of liberal reformers in favor of Italian show more unification. Ultimately, he could not make war upon the Catholic Emperor of Austria and yielded this role to Charles Albert of Piedmont. Pius was forced to abandon Rome disguised as a common priest and went into exile in Gaeta until after the French army at he direction of Louis Napoleon Bonaparte defeated Roman republican forces and restored the pope's authority in the Papal States.

Also worth noting among the cast was one Richard Wagner, who played a role in the government of revolutionary Saxony following the flight of its king into exile. Wagner at one point climbed to a church steeple where he rang the bells to alert the revolutionaries and performed reconnaissance on the Prussian forces looking to suppress the insurrection.

Ultimately, the revolutions foundered due to a great extent the inability of the liberal constitutionalists to achieve a critical mass significant enough to resist the more radical revolutionary impulses of the left and the traditionalist segments of society who feared for the wholesale destruction of the existing social order. What was lacking is best summed by the author in his concluding chapter.
"Most modern democracies cope with the social question because it is debated within a constitutional framework on which are parties are (more or less) agreed and which protect democratic freedoms." This lack of consensus and the inability to establish and live within the constraints of a constitutional framework ultimately influenced many of the revolutionaries of 1848 to side with their erstwhile conservative opposition. show less

I sought out this book after the events now being called the "Arab Spring" really got rolling. I was looking to see if the intuition that the events unfolding in North Africa and the Middle East were really comparable across time and space. The term sui generis comes to mind whenever such comparisons are attempted, and while it's fair to acknowledge that the popular uprisings happening in our time arise from conditions and motivations native to the context of Arab/Islamic culture and show more history, those distinctions that make the two phenomena different are themselves enlightening. As Mark Twain said, "History does not repeat itself, but is does rhyme."

Complaints can certainly be marshaled against the structure and character of this treatment of history. Any reading of a book is accompanied by comparisons to other books that it might have been had the author placed different emphasis. The content is intimidatingly broad and requires an effort to keep straight the various threads across the several concurrent revolutions. So saying, I think that Rapport's treatment is honest and shows integrity in dealing with the material. To have placed particular emphasis in any one theater of events while glossing over some aspects would have done an injustice to the very things that make this year of history fascinating. All of this happened at once, and no piece of it was for any reason more valid or important unless from a myopic perspective that generally eschews regions we think of as backwaters of European civilization. I see complaints of a lack of background explanation, but a moment's reflection on what that would entail and how much weight and density it would add to the total work should cause a retraction of that desire. This book deals with a certain set of events. Any information not contained therein is available elsewhere. If the reader is spurred to learn more, that's great. If it requires concerted effort to comprehend the complexity it is possible that it may be because the events themselves are complex and any movement to reduce complexity would be dishonest.

Back to the comparison with the Arab Spring, I certainly don't appreciate the news media's sound-bite-style journalism that virtually ignores events in any countries other than Egypt and Syria. No doubt they do so because they have a low opinion of our ability to process complexity and therefore serve-up a condensed version. I can't help thinking that there are just some times when an endeavor to actually grapple with complexity is actually the only way to get a visceral sense of that complexity. Who ever said the reading of a history book should be a passive experience? I agree it's not a beach read, and you may have to pay attention to it and occasionally come to grips with the fact that there are important historical figures you've never heard of whose context in a larger historical picture may have to be sought out elsewhere. So be it.

Finally, the comparisons to the revolutions from Algeria to Bahrain are--I think--elucidating. To see how the retrenchment of those empowered can stubbornly resist the conflicting idealisms of fracturing progressive movements mirrors in many respects the events we've seen over the last couple years. Two steps forward, one step back is perhaps the rhyme running through a world history of progressiveness. show less