Argues that the American, French, and Polish revolutions - and the movements for political change in Britain, Ireland, Holland, and elsewhere - were manifestations of similar political ideas, needs, and conflicts.

*Frontmatter, pg. i*CONTENTS, pg. vii*List of Maps, pg. xiii*Foreword, pg. xv*Preface to Part 1, pg. 3*I. The Age of the Democratic Revolution, pg. 5*II. Aristocracy about 1760: The Constituted Bodies, pg. 22*III. Aristocracy about 1760: Theory and Practice, pg. 42*IV. Clashes with Monarchy, pg. 64*V. A Clash with Democracy: Geneva and Jean-Jacques Rousseau, pg. 83*VI. The British Parliament between King and People, pg. 106*VII. The American Revolution: The Forces in Conflict, pg. 138*VIII. The American Revolution: The People as Constituent Power, pg. 159*IX. Europe and the American Revolution, pg. 177*X. Two Parliaments Escape Reform, pg. 214*XI. Democrats and Aristocrats-Dutch, Belgian, and Swiss, pg. 242*XII. The Limitations of Enlightened Despotism, pg. 280*XIII. The Lessons of Poland, pg. 307*XIV. The French Revolution: The Aristocratic Resurgence, pg. 326*XV. The French Revolution: The Explosion of 1789, pg. 347*Preface to Part 2, pg. 375*XVI. The Issues and the Adversaries, pg. 377*XVII. The Revolutionizing of the Revolution, pg. 400*XVIII. Liberation and Annexation: 1792-1793, pg. 424*XIX. The Survival of the Revolution in France, pg. 447*XX. Victories of the Counter-Revolution in Eastern Europe, pg. 473*XXI. The Batavian Republic, pg. 505*XXII. The French Directory: Mirage of the Moderates, pg. 530*XXIII. The French Directory between Extremes, pg. 544*XXIV. The Revolution Comes to Italy, pg. 568*XXV. The Cisalpine Republic, pg. 589*XXVI. 1798: The High Tide of Revolutionary Democracy, pg. 614*XXVII. The Republics at Rome and Naples, pg. 642*XXVIII. The Helvetic Republic, pg. 663*XXIX. Germany: The Revolution of the Mind, pg. 684*XXX. Britain: Republicanism and the Establishment, pg. 709*XXXI. America: Democracy Native and Imported, pg. 745*XXXII. Climax and Denouement, pg. 775*Appendixes I. References for the Quotations at Heads of Chapters, pg. 796*Appendixes II. Translations of Metrical Passages, pg. 798*Appendixes III. Excerpts from Certain Basic Legal Documents, pg. 801*Appendixes IV. The Virginia Declaration of Rights of 1776, and the French Declaration of Rights of 1789, pg. 811*Appendixes V. "Democratic" and "Bourgeois" Characteristics in the French Constitution of 1791: Property Qualifications in France, Britain, and America, pg. 815*Index, pg. 821

Praise for the previous Volume 1 edition: "Robert Palmer possesses the combination of patient scholarship and broad philosophical inquiry the task demands... This book will enlarge and clarify our understanding of modern Western history. It will do more than that. It will re-emphasize the strength and vitality of the roots that supported the growth of democracy in the Old and New Worlds."--Geoffrey Bruun, The New York Times Praise for the previous Volume 2 edition: "... This is the most important book on the Europe of the French Revolution published in English for more than a generation. It marks the turn of the tide, demonstrating as it does the hollowness of the current conservative interpretation of the Revolution and it will discredit for the future all sloppy generalizations about Jacobins, demagogues, and revolutionary mobs... [Professor Palmer's] knowledge of printed sources is exceptionally thorough, ancient as well as modern, and his judgment of what is good and reliable seems unerring."--J. H. Plumb, New York Review of Books Praise for the previous Volume 1 edition: "Professor Palmer presents his historical synthesis with meticulous scholarship, pungent clarity, and emphatic conviction... He has the rare gift of analyzing a historical situation in a manner that reveals, at the same time, both its past and its present significance."--J. Salwyn Schapiro, Saturday Review Praise for the previous Volume 1 edition: "It is a stimulating and provocative book in explicit defense of a position--a moral, political, if not quite religious position--which is the relatively unexamined position of the great majority of Americans. A reading of this book should help many to an explicit examination of their beliefs that may strengthen them and should certainly clarify them."--Crane Brinton, New York Herald Tribune Praise for the previous Volume 2 edition: "With the publication of this second volume of The Age of the Democratic Revolution, R. R. Palmer concludes his patient and magisterial reassessment of the revolutionary ferment that stirred Europe and America between 1760 and 1800... While Volume I covered thirty-two years, Volume II covers only eight, and the detail is correspondingly enriched. The stage remains the same, a vast stage extending from Scotland to Sicily and from Moscow to the Mississippi. Manipulating the spotlight of attention with skill and precision, Palmer shifts the focus from country to country, clarifying the particular conditions and specific developments in each. Despite the frequent changes of scene the drama is saved from incoherence by its dominant theme, a theme that emerges more strongly with each chapter as the evidence supporting it becomes more cumulative and convincing."--Geoffrey Bruun, Journal of Modern History Praise for the previous Volume 2 edition: "... A work of historical synthesis that has no equal."--Maurice Dolbier, New York Herald Tribune