Meisel J. Counter-revolution: How Revolutions Die

New York: Atherton Press, 1966. — 238 p.In this fascinating and erudite panorama of the flow and counterllow of revolution and counterrevolution that have become the norm of the twentieth
century, the author illuminates the revolutionary process as it has developed from antiquity to the present day, from the vantage points of political
science, history, and sociology. Professor Meisel's work—presented in the form of twelve absorbing episodes in the history of Western civilization — is remarkable for the subtlety with which he approaches a subject often difficult to define and even more difficult to explain. He suggests a new and highly useful perspective of history by viewing it as a process of revolution and counterrevolution and their transitional stages. But as it is the nature of revolutions to fall short of their objectives and to enjoy only a brief heyday that becomes the stereotype accepted by posterity, the author emphasizes their antithetical closing phases — whose lessons posterity tends to forget.Prologue: The Revolution of the IntellectualsThe Action and the Actors
Prophets in Revolt
Cicero, Father of the Republic: An Epitaph
The Kingmaker: General Monk
The Survivor: Sieyes
A Premature Totalitarian: Louis Bonaparte
A Major Defection
The Dialectics of Succession
The Fascist Syndrome
The Mythmaker. T. E. Lawrence: An Existentialist Revolt
The Sputtering Fuse: Spain
Augustus Before Caesar: De GaulleConclusions: A Surfeit of Answers