You Say You Want a Revolution?

Radical Idealism and Its Tragic Consequences

By: Daniel Chirot

Narrated by: Paul Boehmer

In You Say You Want a Revolution?, Daniel Chirot examines a wide range of right- and left-wing revolutions around the world - from the late 18th century to today - to provide important new answers to these critical questions.

From the French Revolution of the 18th century to the Mexican, Russian, German, Chinese, anticolonial, and Iranian revolutions of the 20th, Chirot finds that moderate solutions to serious social, economic, and political problems were overwhelmed by radical ideologies that promised simpler, drastic remedies.

But not all revolutions had this outcome. The American Revolution didn't, although its failure to resolve the problem of slavery eventually led to the Civil War, and the collapse of communism in Eastern Europe was relatively peaceful, except in Yugoslavia.

From Japan, North Korea, Vietnam, and Cambodia to Algeria, Angola, Haiti, and Romania, You Say You Want a Revolution? explains why violent radicalism, corruption, and the betrayal of ideals won in so many crucial cases, why it didn't in some others - and what the long-term prospects for major social change are if liberals can't deliver needed reforms.

©2020 Princeton University Press (P)2020 Tantor

Read This Right Now

This gives you a healthy grain of salt to go with the utopianism floating around all sides of the political spectrum right now. How many people would you expect someone to kill if he thought he was saving the populace from oppression or corruption? Could you convince him not to kill one more? 100 more?

Timely and important

A systematic historical review of modern revolutions and what exactly makes them so risky for turning into catastrophic horrors. A good, concise read and really well read by the narrator. I’d highly recommend for everyone leaning toward activist solutions to America’s current political debacles.

Ok for an introduction to the topic

This is not a bad book if you’re looking for an introduction to these ideas. I think he was trying to make the point that revolutions can be bad if done wrong and we are doing it wrong now, but barely delved into that conclusion. Good concept. Needed more.

Interesting Historical Perspective

Interesting read, but the author definitely has a ax to grind. The author uses classical definitions of liberalism and conservatism; do not just assume you know what he means when he states these divisions. In addition, the author does not seem to except a worldview in which morality guided by religion has the ability to better modern societies. Finally, based on a few lines from the book, I believe the author wrongly places US President Donald Trump in the same vein as Adolf Hitler, Chancellor of Germany. Anyone who knows anything at all about history, and it’s not rushing to make a political point, knows that this comparison is absolutely historically ludicrous.