Laboratory of Liberty

Marc H. Lerner, Ph. D. (2003) in History, Columbia University, has been Assistant Professor of History at the University of Mississippi since 2005. His research interests are focused on revolutionary Europe in comparative perspective, republicanism, democracy and the transition to political modernity.

"[...] excellent monograph [...]. Lerner’s book on Switzerland is a superb piece of scholarship that will interest historians whose subjects lie way beyond the frontiers of that fascinating and intriguing country." – Mike Rapport, University of Glasgow, in: American Historical Review 118/3 (June 2013), pp. 947-948"Rooted in extensive research in various Swiss archives, his emphasis on public opinion adds a valuable piece and moves the volume beyond conventional intellectual histories. [...] Laboratory of Liberty [is] of use to scholars well beyond the field of Swiss history." – Martin Kalb, Northern Arizona University, in: Swiss American Historical Review 48/3 (Nov., 2012), pp. 80-81"Lerner gelingt auf diese Art ein faszinierender Einblick in die Vielfältigkeit, Hybridität und Uneinheitlichkeit des Republikanismus und seiner Freiheitsvorstellungen am Übergang in die Moderne. [...] Es gehört auch zu den Verdiensten dieser Studie, darauf bedacht zu sein, das Fallbeispiel Schweiz nicht isoliert zu betrachten, sondern den politischen Transformationsprozess in der Eidgenossenschaft konsequent in die großen europäischen Entwicklungslinien einzubetten und damit als Beitrag für das bessere Verständnis der Transitionsperiode in einer europäischen Perspektive zu verstehen." – André Holenstein, Historisches Institut der Universität Bern, in: H-Soz-u-Kult, H-Net Reviews, Oct. 2012"Le livre de Marc Lerner remplit un vide évident pour quiconque s’intéresse à l’ère des révolutions. [...] Marc Lerner apporte ici un travail passionnant sur les continuités et discontinuités dans l’histoire de la Suisse, qui permet de mieux comprendre sa configuration actuelle." – Annie Jourdan, University of Amsterdam, in: Annales historiques de la Révolution française 369 (July/September 2012), pp.169-172

• List of MapsList of AbbreviationsAcknowledgments IntroductionPart IThe End of the Old Regime in Europe and in the Swiss EidgenossenschaftChapter One On The Ideological Origins of the Revolution in SwitzerlandChapter Two Ambivalent Revolutionaries: The Helvetic Republic inRevolutionary EuropePart IIRegeneration of a Constructed Past: Continuities and Discontinuities in the Struggle between Old and New Visions of Switzerland and EuropeChapter Three The right to Self-Rule: The Debate Over Legitimacy and the Vaud-Bern RelationshipChapter Four Two Visions of Political Society in Inner Switzerland, 1829–33Chapter Five Popular Sovereignty in the ZüriputschPart III National AccommodationChapter Six Radical Conceptions of the Confederation: Popular Sovereignty and the 1845 Revolution in VaudChapter Seven War, Accommodation and the Making of the Modern Constitutional StateConclusionBibliography