From the English Civil War to the Fronde, from Masaniello to
Robespierre, this book is one of the first attempts to create a
European, transnational approach to the problems of the early modern
age. It proposes a detailed reconstruction of the main interpretative
tendencies that have developed around the English Civil War, the French
Revolution, the so-called 'Seventeenth-Century Crisis': the Fronde and
the Neapolitan revolt of Masaniello. And yet, Mirrors of Revolution
agrees with neither the traditional social interpretations of the causes
of revolt, nor with revisionist approaches that privilege the influence
of discursive registers. Instead, it proposes an original interpretation
of revolution based on the concept of political identity. In the terms
of this analysis, revolutions do not reveal previously hidden social
groups. Rather, revolutions become the central ground upon which new
identities coalesce. With its usage of the Fronde and Masaniello as
case-studies for extensive investigation, Mirrors of Revolution outlines
a challenging and exciting reformulation of the concept, and causes, of
revolution.