Over the past 500 years, almost every country in the world has been touched by revolution, either directly through events occurring within their own boundaries or through influences that spread from neighboring countries. In more than 300 entries, this encyclopedia provides a fascinating and thorough review of revolutions around the globe since A.D. 1500, beginning with the Italian city-state revolutions of the Renaissance and progressing to movements that are still continuing today, like the Kurdish revolts.

Defining revolution as an event that used irregular procedures aimed at forcing political change within a society and that had lasting effects on the political system of the society in which it occurred, the encyclopedia encompasses topics such as the Civil Rights and women's rights movements and the Indian and Pakistani independence movements as well as the American Revolution, the French Revolution, and the Spanish civil war. The volume includes biographies of more than 70 leaders, including Susan B. Anthony, Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr., Hitler, and Robespierre, chosen because their influence spread beyond their own countries. Concepts important to an understanding of why revolutions occur and the influence they have had on political and social history are also the subject of essays. These essays, such as anarchism, ethnic conflict, liberation theology, religion, and terrorism, help the reader understand recurring themes and underscore the veracity of editor Goldstone's opening quotation: "the more things change, the more they remain the same."

Articles are authored by scholars, mostly from the U.S. and England; are signed; and include see also references and bibliographies. Arrangement is alphabetical by subject, and length varies from one to five pages. At the beginning of the volume are an alphabetical list of articles, with their contributors; and a list of contributors, with their articles. A list of articles by subject divides the content into three broad areas--biographies, concepts, and events; more-detailed subject access is provided by the index. A time line, also at the beginning of the volume, charts revolutionary events for the period covered.

A more popular treatment of similar topics can be found in Facts On File's Encyclopedia of Revolutions and Revolutionaries [RBB My 1 96]. The Encyclopedia of Political Revolutions is recommended for academic and larger public libraries. Congressional Quarterly has also issued a paperback volume, Who's Who in Political Revolutions ($29.95, 1-56802-461-4), which reprints the biographical entries and the time line. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.