Firestarters

Politicians, activists, blowhards, pundits, loudmouths and the like all pretend to think they're on the vanguard of a glorious revolution. One quick dip into history proves it's all been done before.

Just when you think you've been inspired, you hear about someone who was led by the messages of angels. Donald Spoto's Joan follows Joan of Arc as she receives heavenly visions, leads France to victory over the English and gets burned to death for her trouble.

Italian Renaissance politics was a nightmare of competing ruling families, but in the middle of it all, an enterprising monk tried to found a modern democracy. At the same time, he burned up everyone's valuables in a Bonfire of the Vanities to promote a medieval morality. Death in Florence traces the history of Savonarola, the Medicis and the clashing ideologies which birthed western civilization.

John Brown, along with a lot of people, hated slavery, but a lot of other people were quite fond of it. His solution to the problem was to start an armed rebellion, where he gathered his family and a group of ragtag followers to all put their lives on the line. Midnight Rising tells the story of a raid on a federal armory which helped lead America into the Civil War.

When people start telling you they're leading a revolution, they have some big shoes to fill. It would be to their benefit to read up on their history.