Aptly described by playwright Eugene Ionesco as "one of the four or five great reformers of modern thought", Andre Breton (1896-1966) was the founder and prime mover of Surrealism, the most influential artistic and literary movement of the 20th century. Poet and theorist, artistic impresario and political agitator, Breton was a man of paradoxical character: inspiring one moment, crushingly tyrannical the next; embracing friends like Brunuel, Dali, Duchamp, Miro, Man Ray, Aragon and Eluard, only to exile them as enemies later. From its emergence from Dada after World War I through its culmination in the 1960s, here is the Surrealist world in detail. Finalist for the PEN/Martha Albrand Award for Best First Book of Nonfiction One of the 25 best books of 1995, Village Voice Literary Supplement Notable Book of 1995, New York Times Book Review "Mr. Polizzotti has produced a substantial work. While mapping a wide area of French literary and artistic life between the wars, he offers much the most complete portrait available in English or French of Surrealism's magister ludi."--Frederick Brown, New York Times Book Review "In his new, staggeringly well-researched biography of Breton, Mark Polizzotti does not shy from his subject's behavioral unsavoriness, and some of it makes for reading so hilarious one is tempted at moments to believe that his intention was to debunk the man. But the hilarity merely reflects the central paradox of Breton's existence...In Mark Polizzotti, Breton has found a flawless biographer."--Gilbert Adair, [London] Sunday Times "Wonderfully thorough...Polizzotti takes us expertly through the years of Breton's dealings with Dada, the rupture of 1921, and the creation of Surrealism [and he] handles the awkward half-embraces between the Surrealists and the Parti Communiste Français well and in detail."--front page, Times Literary Supplement "Enriched with new information, Mark Polizzotti's meticulous biography is likely to become the standard reference."-- Le Monde "Mark Polizzotti has written the portrait of an intransigent, uncompromising genius who founded the most characteristic artistic movement of our century. In painting his canvas Polizzotti has demonstrated his mastery of intellectual history, the intricacies of Parisian literary politics, Breton's own complex psychology, and the subtleties of artistic influence." --Edmund White "Revolution of the Mind is a rare feat, a scholarly book that debunks and glories in its subject with serene pertinacity and a distinct genius for the back story. It is the best history of Surrealism we are likely to get for many years... Polizzotti had a daunting quantity of skillful mystification to plow through...to his immense credit, [he] sorts out as much as he can without boiling off the truly mysterious."--Gary Indiana, VLS "A marvel of style and substance. It is written so engagingly that it reads almost like a novel, but it is clearly carefully researched and thorough...Polizzotti's treatment of [Breton] is even-handed and fair, showing the warts as often as the splendid head."-- Art Book