Explains how bold efforts at profound progressive change provoked a powerful reactionary backlash that led to the imposition of brutal, regressive dictatorships.

Discussion of revolutions in European history and the impact on politics in Colonial America.

An engaging range of period texts and theme books for AS and A Level history. In many ways the period 1789-1849 saw the birth of the modern world, as the people of Europe grappled with the impact of the new political and social ideas, rapid population growth and the acceleration of the industrialisation. The clash between the forces of change and of conservatism provoked crisis, war, revolution and reaction. Andrew Matthews provides a lively and intelligent account. In chapters that focus on the French Revolution, Napoleon, Restoration France, Metternich's Europe and the 1848 revolutions, he considers the key individuals, groups and political, social and economic pressures that produced so much revolution, repression and war.

Rachel Scott and her killer Eric Harris both talked about starting a "chain reaction." Eric used violence to kill and destroy at Columbine High School. But Rachel chose another path. In a personal creed she wrote one month before her death in the Columbine tragedy, she explained her conviction that if one person goes out of his or her way to show compassion, it will start a world-changing chain reaction of kindness. For Rachel, this was a solemn calling. And now her father, Darrell Scott, is carrying on her crusade by challenging people of all ages to commit themselves to creating a revolution of compassion that can make a real difference in our troubled world. Chain Reaction spells out this challenge in compelling detail, providing moving examples of practical compassion and giving illustrations from Rachel's life and journals.