Timothy Lambert McDaniel, Professor of Sociology at the University of California, San Diego, died in San Diego on March 10, 2009, after a brave fight against colon cancer that lasted more than a decade. He was one of the leading comparative-historical sociologists of his generation, an inspiring teacher, and a man of unwavering probity and extraordinary erudition. A dedicated scholar, he contributed greatly to the growth of the university during his three decades on the faculty.

Tim was born in San Francisco, California on October 11, 1947. He received his undergraduate education at Yale and at the University of California, Santa Cruz, from which he graduated in 1972. He began his graduate studies at the University of North Carolina, at that time planning to specialize in the study of Latin America (he had lived for extended periods in Chile and Northeast Brazil), but his growing interest in the comparative study of revolutions prompted him to transfer to the University of California, Berkeley. At Berkeley, he set about learning the Russian language and read omnivorously, primarily under the guidance of the historian Reginald Zelnik. Having lived in Chile during the Allende revolution and the US-inspired coup, Tim now turned his attentions to a revolution of much greater notoriety and world-historical consequence. He was soon busy with a thesis on the Russian labor movement and its connections to the Russian Revolution. Completing his dissertation in 1979, he joined the department at UCSD, a place that would be his intellectual home throughout the remainder of his career.

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What did the Russian revolution of 1917 and the Iranian revolution of 1978-1979 share besides their drama? How can we compare a revolution led by Lenin with one inspired by Khomeini? How is a revolution based primarily on the urban working class similar to one founded to a significant degree on traditional groups like the bazaaris, small craftsmen, and religious students and preachers? Identifying a distinctive route to modernity--autocratic modernization--Tim McDaniel explores the dilemmas inherent in the efforts of autocratic monarchies in Russia and Iran to transform their countries into modern industrial societies. What did the Russian revolution of 1917 and the Iranian revolution of 1978-1979 share besides their drama? How can we compare a revolution led by Lenin with one inspired by Khomeini? How is a revolution based primarily on the urban working class similar to one founded to a significant degree on traditional groups like the bazaaris, small craftsmen, and religious students and preachers? Identifying a distinctive route to modernity--autocratic modernization--Tim McDaniel explores the dilemmas inherent in the efforts of autocratic monarchies in Russia and Iran to transform their countries into modern industrial societies.