Revolutionary Emotions: The Roots of Revolutionary Waves

Revolutionary Emotions proposes a novel emotional theory of revolutionary diffusion and success and argues that emotional mobilization is at the root of both. For centuries, revolutionaries spoke of the emotional arousal—the anger, hope, and the jettisoning of fear—that motivated their participation in revolt. Studies of revolutions, however, rarely give these emotional narratives the power that actors themselves recount. This book argues that revolutionary waves, including the 1848 revolts...