ABSTRACT
In the study of history, nothing is more fascinating than the emergence of those ideas that periodically galvanize mankind into urgent action. Such ideas leap onto the center stage of public awareness, stay for a time, and then effectively vanish—either discredited like witchcraft and the divine right of kings, or absorbed into the public consciousness to become part of the status quo. The most interesting moments in this process, of course, are those when the idea is on stage, when it engages the public in passionate debate, when people struggle to fit the idea into the existing order, and when, through their efforts, people inevitably change both the existing order and the character of the idea.
