The Furies – Violence and Terror in the French and Russian Revolutions Paperback - 2001

"A remarkable new insight into the comparative social dynamics of revolutions and terrors, which provides very strong arguments against common stereotypes and misleading conservative interpretations."--Pierre Bourdieu

"In his comparative analysis of the Great French and the Russian October Revolution, Arno Mayer focuses on the interaction between revolution and counterrevolution as a source of exorbitant violence and terror that emerges less from ideological visions of the revolutionaries than from unforeseen pressures generated by the combination of external and civil war. By alluding to the ancient "furies," Mayer underlines the self-escalation of terror, usually connected with racial and religious hatred, and pleads for a critical evaluation of the revolutionary events in Russia from February 1917 to the climax of the Stalinist period. His book is a masterpiece of comparative history."--Hans Mommsen

"Arno Mayer's The Furies is an eloquent and passionate reconsideration of the role of violence and terror, not only in the French and Russian Revolutions, but in the political institutions in general. The comparison between the French revolution and its aftermath and the Russian experience is extremely illuminating, offering new insights into revolution--as an ongoing dialectic between old and new orders, in which vengeance and violence erupt as part of the process of struggle and breakdown."--Richard Wortman, Columbia University