"Holy Madness provides not only a fluid history of the tumultuous years that embraced the American and French revolutions, the Irish Rebellion, the Polish uprisings, the liberation of South America, and the Italian Risorgimento, it also probes the spiritual and emotional forces responsible for the founding events of the modern world.

Zamoyski also captures the passionate revolutionary figures Lafayette, Napoleon, Benjamin franklin, Bolivar, Rousseau, and countless others who were caught up in the fervor of the nationalist crusade. As the cult of the nation rises again around the world, Holy Madness is a history that takes on chilling relevance in today's society."--BOOK JACKET.