His [Sufi mystic Shams’] stern but gentle manner and his preachings of love arouse strong reactions, ranging from murderous hostility on the part of Islamic zealots to almost total identification by Rumi, from respect and devotion by outcasts whom he has consoled and aided to the one kind of love he cannot allow himself, the passionate, carnal kind.

And today, 150 years later, the Paris Commune of 1871 continues to resound as “a synonym of social struggle,” inspiring the slogans of radical democratic movements from Hong Kong to Spain to New York.