Taking Power

'Foran's book has raised the bar for comparative studies of revolution. More than any prior comparative work on revolutions, it takes seriously culture, contingency, and the importance of understanding revolutionary attempts, failures, and reversals. In doing so, Foran has set down a superior foundation for us all. It should be the starting point for all future work on modern revolutions.' Contemporary Sociology 'Foran's magnum opus is a must read for scholars of revolution and social movements, third-world development, and global conflict. It is impressive not only for its breadth in terms of the number and variety of revolutions that he discusses (making it a valuable reference book), but also for its theoretical insight and methodological transparency and rigor.' John G. Dale, George Mason University 'John Foran's Taking Power presents a sophisticated yet parsimonious account of the great revolutions, near-revolutions, and defeated revolutions of the past century. This carefully crafted and well written book is the most comprehensive study of Third World revolutions now available. Foran's theory challenges one-dimensional theories of Revolution as well as ad hoc accounts of individual revolutions. Scholars - and perhaps revolutionaries - will be debating his ideas for years to come.' Jeff Goodwin, Professor of Sociology, New York University 'John Foran's book draws faithfully from the rich literature on revolutions from the 1970s and beyond and extends this work in useful ways. It presents a well-crafted synthetic argument that finds a nice balance between international and domestic sources of revolution and between structural constraints and political agency. It also examines thoughtfully an extraordinary number of cases in a relatively compact form.' Perspectives on Politics 'John Foran's deftly written, persuasively argued, theoretically sophisticated, and substantively rich text serves as a delightful compendium of the very best and latest thinking about matters revolutionary.' Eric Selbin, Chair of the Political Science Department, Southwestern University