After the French Revolution, conservative governments from Britain to Russia created bulwarks to protect their power against the threat of further rebellions. They repressed and spied on their citizens, policing both speech and actions. In nations across Europe, politicians and cultural leaders from Edmund Burke to Mary Shelley chose sides, either propelling or resisting the counterrevolutionary spirit embodied in these omnipotent central states. These years of paranoia not only witnessed the first stirrings of modern totalitarian regimes but gave birth to the political contest between the privileged and the underprivileged--a legacy that haunts us to this day.

Compact discs.