Rousseau and Revolution was published by Simon & Schuster in 1967 and won the Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction in 1968. The tenth volume covered the period from the Seven Years’ War (1756) to the outbreak of the French Revolution (1789), with Jean-Jacques Rousseau as the counterweight to Voltaire’s rationalism. Where Voltaire championed reason, Rousseau championed feeling; where Voltaire defended civilization, Rousseau questioned it. The tension between these two visions — and the explosive political consequences of that tension — gave the volume its dramatic structure.
The Pulitzer Prize was a vindication for the Durants. Professional historians had long been skeptical of their project — too popular, too narrative, too lacking in original archival research. The Pulitzer recognized what the public had known for decades: that the Durants had produced a cultural achievement of genuine magnitude.
Collecting Rousseau and Revolution
First edition (Simon & Schuster, New York, 1967): Cloth binding with dust jacket.
Market values:
- Fine in dust jacket: $30–$80
- Very good: $10–$30
The Pulitzer Prize association gives this volume a slight premium over other later volumes in the series.
Projected values (2026–2036): Moderate appreciation. Pulitzer Prize winner.
The Pre-Revolutionary World
Rousseau and Revolution (1967) is Volume X and won the Pulitzer Prize for General Nonfiction. It covers European civilization from 1756 to 1789 — the decades before the French Revolution. Rousseau’s radical ideas about nature, education, and the social contract provide the intellectual framework, but Durant covers the full cultural life of the era: Mozart, Goethe, Catherine the Great, and the American Revolution. The volume represents the Durants’ finest collaborative achievement and benefits from decades of accumulated skill.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why did this win the Pulitzer? The committee recognized both the volume’s quality and the cumulative achievement of the series. By 1968, Durant had been working on The Story of Civilization for over thirty years, and the Pulitzer acknowledged a life’s work as much as a single book.