HOW TO MAKE A REVOLUTION draws on novels, plays, films, declarations, and treatises left by revolutionaries from the Levellers and Sea Beggars to the Haitians and French Jacobins to Marx and Engels to Students in May-June ’68. Of course, we will also discuss the Russians, Vietnamese, Chinese, and the Arab Spring.  We will look at the world through the eyes of the revolutionaries who built barricades over the course of three centuries. Along the way, you’ll pause to read a novel of your choice and to pitch a film to your classmates. You should come away knowing not only what happened, but why it happened. Why did French revolutionaries reinvent the calendar, or Marx call on workers of the world to unite? What united the students in Berkeley, Paris, Prague and Durham? Do radical upheavals require bloodshed, violence, or even terror?

The foundation of this course is discussion, based on reading interspersed with some short background lectures. When our authors are still alive, we’ll interview them. No background necessary, just a willingness to read, listen, watch, and discuss films, novels, political declarations, and some interesting history. Come prepared to ask questions, to challenge each other and me, and together build an understanding.