Review of 1848: Year of Revolution by Mike Rapport

The mother of all turning points, even if it didn’t quite turn

I have long sought a detailed account of 1848: it was a time of myriad movements, crises, hopes, violent revolutions, and even more brutal counter-revolutions. As a moment of such utter complexity and import, it is key to understanding the tensions of the present day. While this uneven book dwells too much on the details of the violence and political ma…