Myth of the Nation and Vision of Revolution: Ideological Polarization in the Twentieth Century

by Jacob L. Talmon

In what may well rank as the finest political and intellectual history of the twentieth century, the late J. L. Talmon explores the origins of the schism within European society between the totalitarians of Right and Left as well as the split between an acceptance of the historical national community as the natural political and social framework and the vision of a socialist society achieved by a universal revolutionary breakthrough. This, the third and final volume of Talmon's history of the modern world, brings to bear the resources of his incisive scholarship to examine the workings of the ironies of totalitarianism as well as the resources of democracy.

Edition from 2017. The copyright for the new material in this edition is from 1991, when the book was published by

658 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1981

About the author

Jacob Leib Talmon (Hebrew: יעקב טלמון) (June 14, 1916 – June 16, 1980) was Professor of Modern History at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

He studied the genealogy of totalitarianism, arguing that political Messianism stemmed from the French Revolution, and stressed the similarities between Jacobinism and Stalinism. He coined the terms Totalitarian Democracy and Political Messianism