One of the most important books on modern German history to emerge from the United States recently and probably the most important to emerge on the pre-Bismarck era. -- Geoff Eley, University of Michigan

This major interpretation of the Revolution of 1848-1849 in Germany stresses its character as a mass political phenomenon. Building skillfully on the theme of the interaction of self-conscious radicalism and spontaneous popular movements, Jonathan Sperber analyzes the social and religious antagonisms of pre-1848 German society and shows how they were politicized by the democratic political opposition.