The Great Revolutions And the Civilizations of Modernity

Eisenstadt (sociology, Jerusalem) has rethought his analysis of revolutions. While in previous publications he analyzed them as being one type of macro-societal changes, comparing them with other types of such changes and transformations, in this work he puts his study into the framework of the analysis of comparative civilizations, concentrating on axial civilizations, and of those revolutions' relationships with the notion of multiple modernities. He covers the great revolutions and the origins and development of modernity in comparative observations, works through the causes and historical/civilizational frameworks of revolutions, describes the variability of axial civilizations and political dynamics as a distinctive part of the revolutionary process, examines cosmological visions and modes of regulation with revolutionary potentials in the political dynamics in axial civilizations, and closes with observations on the outcomes of revolutions. Annotation c2006 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

S.N. Eisenstadt, Ph.D. (1947), Jerusalem, is Professor Emeritus at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He is member of many academies, recipient of honorary doctoral degrees of the Universities of Tel Aviv, Helsinki, Harvard, Duke, Budapest and Hebrew Union College. Recipient of many prizes and awards, he is author and editor of more than 50 books.