| Book Review | The American Historical Review, 105.3

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| Book Review | The American Historical Review, 105.3 | The History Cooperative

Book Review

Methods/Theory

Francesco Benigno. Specchi della rivoluzione: Conflitto e identità politica nell'Europa moderna. (Saggi: Storia e scienze sociali.) Rome: Donzilli Editore. 1999. Pp. xviii, 302. L. 38,000.

Historians examine revolutions by means of mirrors in which they commonly see themselves and the politics of their times. Only through disciplined effort can they sort out the reality of past crises from the illusions of self-perception. But they can do so. Thus reasoning, Francesco Benigno fills the space between a brief introduction and a briefer conclusion with four substantial essays on historiography concerning Europe in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. His topics are revisionism in views of the English and French Revolutions; the idea of a seventeenth-century crisis; the Fronde; and the Neapolitan rebellion of 1647–1648. The first two essays concentrate on summary and critique of competing positions. The second two move from criticism to rethinking of the events themselves. In snappy titles and energetic prose, Benigno provides clear judgments based on careful reading. An English translation would serve as a provocative text for many a course on early modern Europe. . . .

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