The anatomy of revolution · Crane Brinton
C. L. Becker, The Eve of the Revolution (Vol. 11 of the Chronicles
Chapter 4 of 9 · 1 min read
of America). New Haven, 1921. The Declaration of Independence. New York, 1922. Both these books bring to the study of political change a rare and thorough knowledge of how men think and feel.
G. L. Beer, British Colonial Policy, 1754-1756. New York, 1907. The last volume of a thorough monographic treatment of the old British Empire, especially with respect to matters of trade and taxation.
B. Faÿ, The Revolutionary Spirit in France and in the United States. English translation, New York, 1927. Extremely valuable for the study of ideas.
J. F. Jameson, The American Revolution Considered as a Social Movement. Princeton, 1926. Suggestive, and in many ways a pioneer essay. But a long and thorough monograph with the same title would be useful. Recent Marxist attempts to do something of the sort have not amounted to much.
J. C. Miller, Sam Adams: Pioneer in Propaganda. Boston, 1936. One of the best studies of revolutionary propaganda and technique available for any revolution.
A. M. Schlesinger, Colonial Merchants and the American Revolution. New York, 1918. This monograph brought the realistic study of the American revolution a tremendous leap forward.
G. O. Trevelyan, The American Revolution. George III and Charles James Fox, the concluding part of The American Revolution. Bound with the above in a uniform edition of 6 vols., New York, 1920-1922. This is a “classic” with the overtones of being dated which the word often carries. Written by a distinguished Whig historian, it is more favorable to American “rights” in the War of Independence than most of the foregoing American books. It seems to our generation to omit very important economic and social considerations.
M. C. Tyler, The Literary History of the American Revolution. 2 vols. New York, 1897. Also a “classic” but not by any means dated.
C. H. Van Tyne, A History of the Founding of the American Republic. 2 vols. Boston, 1922, 1929. A standard work of professional historical scholarship.
C. FRANCE
A. Aulard, The French Revolution: A Political History. English translation. 4 vols., New York, 1910. The best example of official Republican history of the great revolution, by one who was in some ways a spiritual descendant of the Girondins. Leftist and anti-clerical bias.
