''One of the best history books you will read this decade'' History Today

''Fascinating, suspenseful, revelatory, alive'' The Times

There can be few more exciting or frightening moments in European history than the spring of 1848. As if by magic, in city after city, from Palermo to Paris to Venice, huge crowds gathered, sometimes peaceful and sometimes violent, and the political order that had held sway since the defeat of Napoleon simply collapsed.

Christopher Clark''s spectacular new book recreates with verve, wit and insight this extraordinary periodSome rulers gave up at once, others fought bitterly, but everywhere new politicians, beliefs and expectations surged forward. The role of women in society, the end of slavery, the right to work, national independence and the emancipation of the Jews all became live issues.

Clark conjures up both this ferment of new ideas and then the increasingly ruthless and effective series of counter-attacks launched by regimes who still turned out to have many cards to playBut even in defeat, exiles spread the ideas of 1848 around the world and - for better and sometimes much worse - a new and very different Europe emerged from the wreckage.

Format Häftad Omfång 896 sidor Språk Engelska Förlag Penguin Books Ltd Utgivningsdatum 2024-04-25 ISBN 9780141988313