The title of my editorial is taken from the book itself. Evans writes: “The spirit of 1848 affected some parts of Europe in different ways and with a different chronology from the main course of events.”1(p222) As I explained in my review: “The spirit of 1848 . . . established that every human being was born equal, in stark contrast to the old regime belief that aristocrats had different blood. The new spirit was vividly expressed in the abolition of slavery in a number of Europe’s overseas colonies, ‘the most notable accomplishment of the 1848 Revolutions.’ ”2(p489)
The spirit of 1848 represented a turning point, not only for the century, but also for the past 8000 years of human history during which other human beings have been treated as chattel on a mass scale as slaves, serfs, and, up to a certain point, soldiers.
Hence, on that basis, I elected it as the title of the book review. It is true that an APHA caucus also has this name, however, I would never have considered linking my review to the caucus for the simple reason that I am not sure we interpret the expression the same way.
REFERENCES
- 1.Evans RJ. The Pursuit of Power: Europe 1815–1914 (The Penguin History of Europe) New York, NY: Viking; 2016. [Google Scholar]
- 2.Morabia A. Spirit of 1848. Am J Public Health. 2017;107(4):489–490. doi: 10.2105/AJPH.2017.303678. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]