Anatomy of a Revolution-book review

The Anatomy of Revolution by Crane Brinton
In The Anatomy of Revolution, Brinton argues that the four major democratic revolutions of Western Civilization—the English, American, French, and Russian revolutions, were fundamentally similar in their causes, phases, and results. Brinton supports this argument through the use of scientific methods applied to the study of history.
Among the causes of the revolutions that Brinton lists, the most important appear to be an acceptable level of well being combined with rising expectations, an ineffective government, excessive taxation, and abandonment of the government by the intellectuals. Contrary to popular belief, revolutions do not occur when everyone is poor and starving, but rather when the middle and the merchant classes experience rising expectations that are not being fulfilled. In France, for example, just before the revolution, the economy was rising. The harvests were ample; however, most of the wealth was monopoliz...