Presenting a new framework for the study of revolutions, this innovative exploration of French, Russian, Chinese, Vietnamese, Cuban, Iranian, South African, and more recent Arab revolutions, provides a theoretically grounded and empirically comprehensive demonstration of how revolutions mean more than mere state collapse and rebuilding. Through the examination of multiple historical case studies, and use of extensive historical examples to explore a range of revolutions, Mehran Kamrava reveals the range and depth of human emotion and motivations that are so prevalent and consequential in revolutions, from personal commitment to sacrifice, determination, leadership ability, charisma, opportunism, and avarice.

'A concise, well-argued, and original take on revolutions over the long span of history from the 1789 French Revolution to the 2011 Arab Spring. Kamrava is thoughtful and judicious in his theorizing, wide-ranging in both his cases and his coverage of them, and informative in his narrative accounts. In recent years we have not seen any works of such comparative sweep. Succinct, comprehensive, and original.'

John Foran - University of California, Santa Barbara

'This thoughtful, incisive history opens up new horizons by positioning revolution in a new framework whereby revolutions are understood as planned, spontaneous, or negotiated. Through these categories and shrewd, substantively rich cases studies, Kamrava calls on us to reconsider how revolutions have and will unfold.'

Eric Selbin - Southwestern University, Texas

‘Kamrava (Georgetown Univ., Qatar) provides an excellent introduction to a very complex subject in A Concise History of Revolution.’

M. O'Gara Source: Choice