Brilliantly reconceptualizing social movements from a historical perspective, Foss and Larkin critically review the major theories in social movements. They analyze the mechanisms of the reproduction of social privilege to examine the underlying contradicitons in society which give rise to collective dissidence and conclude with some intriguing speculations as to the possibility of social revolution in the U.S. Essential reading for all social scientists, and for courses in social movements, contemporary social theory, and political sociology.

The land occupations and uprisings by peasants in the early 1960s, recounted by a central leader of the struggle in Peru.

C. L. R. James's correspondence with Constance Webb, the young American woman who eventually became his wife, began in 1939 and lasted a decade. Passionate, poetic, and wonderfully readable, the letters chart an extraordinary friendship and gripping period in the life of C. L. R. James as a revolutionary activist in America. Beginning with James's first letters to Webb (written whilst visiting Trotsky in Coyoacan, Mexico) and ending with his letters from 'exile' in Nevada, the correspondence is simultaneously an intimate record of a romantic relationship and a profound meditation on politics, art, and American civilization. Whether debating with Richard Wright in New York, lecturing in Los Angeles, or singing arias aboard ship in the Gulf of Mexico, James is always a superb traveling companion: quick to draw historical and political lessons from everyday life, and always able to illuminate experience through art. Something powerful was unlocked by James's experience of America. And at the centre of this experience was his attempt to bridge the gap of race, age, an

This book offers a thematic analysis of the phenomenon of revolution. The twentieth century has been witness to a number of historic revolutions, beginning with the Mexican and the Russian revolutions at the turn of the century and leading up to the Iranian and Nicaragua revolutions in the 1970s and 1980s. Despite their fundamental differences, these and the revolutions before them are characterized by parallel developments and processes. The focus of this book is to discern those social and political dynamics that bring about revolutions, determine their nature and overall direction, and in turn facilitate the emergence and success of revolutionary leaders and their attempts at institutionalizing their newly-won powers. Kamrava adds valuable insights into prevalent notions and theories concerning revolutions. There are, the author argues, several conditions necessary for the appearance and success of revolutionary movements. They include a weak state structure, a "mobilizable" society, and specific groups whose aim it is to overthrow the political system. Once the leaders of the revolution have been determined, they try to institutionalize their powers, in both the post-revolutionary state and society.

Blood Road is a complex mix of social history, literary analysis, political biography, and murder mystery. It explores and analyzes the social and cultural dynamics of the Chinese revolution of the 1920s by focusing on the mysterious 1928 assassination of Shen Dingyi--revolutionary, landlord, politician, poet, journalist, educator, feminist, and early member of both the Communist and Nationalist parties.
The search for Shen''s killer details the contours of revolutionary change in different spatial contexts--metropolitan Shanghai, the provincial capital Hangzhou, and Shen''s home village of Yaqian. Several interrelated themes emerge in this dramatic story of revolution: the nature of social identity, the role of social networks, the political import of place, and the centrality of process in historical explanation. It contributes significantly to a new understanding of Chinese revolutionary culture and the 1920s revolution in particular. But Blood Road remains at base a story of people linked in various relationships who were thrust, often without choice, into treacherous revolutionary currents that shaped, twisted, and destroyed their lives.

Revolutionspresents eight European case studies including the English revolution of 1649, the French Revolution and the recent revolutions within the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe (1989-1991) and examines them not only in their specific political, economic and social contexts but also as part of the wider European revolutionary tradition. A chapter on the American Revolution is also included as a revolution which grew out of European expansionism and political culture.Revolutionsbrings together leading writers on European history, who make a major contribution to the controversial debate on the role of revolution in the development of European history. This is a truly comparative book which includes discussion on each of the following key themes:
* the causes of revolution, including the importance of political, social and economic factors
* the effects of political and philisophical ideas or ideology on the revolution
* the form and process of a revolution, including the importance of violence and popular support
* the outcome of revolution, both short-term and long-term
* the way revolution is viewed in history particularly since the collapse of Communism in Europe.

A social history of Pennsylvania in the months before Independence, based on contemporary diaries and newspapers.