The book was originally published by Manchester University Press in 1959 and released in 1960 in the United States by Free Press of Glencoe, Illinois under an alternative main title: Social Bandits and Primitive Rebels, which emphasised the concept of the social bandit created by Hobsbawm in the book.[1] The 1971 edition by Manchester University Press, numbered as the third but being the only amended one, includes a new preface and minor changes to the text.
The book's French translation appeared still in 1959 as Les Primitifs de la révolte dans l'Europe moderne (Paris: Fayard). The German rendition by Renate Müller-Isenburg and Charles Barry Hyams followed in 1962 (Sozialrebellen. Archaische Sozialbewegungen im 19. und 20. Jahrhundert, Neuwied: Luchterhand).
Coser, Lewis A. (1960). "Review of Social Bandits and Primitive Rebels: Studies in Archaic Forms of Social Movements in the 19th and 20th Centuries". American Sociological Review. 25 (6): 988–989. doi:10.2307/2090015. ISSN0003-1224. JSTOR2090015.
Cowley, John C. (1967). "Review of Primitive Rebels: Studies in Archaic Forms of Social Movement in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries". Science & Society. 31 (3): 365–367. ISSN0036-8237. JSTOR40401294.
D., H. (1960). "Review of Primitive Rebels. (Formes élémentaires de la rébellion)". Archives de sociologie des religions. 5 (9): 189–190. ISSN0003-9659. JSTOR41239739.
Dubief, Henri (1961). "Review of Primitive Rebels. — Studies in archaic forms of social movement in the 19th and 20th centuries". Revue Historique. 225 (2): 483–487. ISSN0035-3264. JSTOR40949415.
Graña, César (1964). "Review of Primitive Rebels: Studies in Archaic Forms of Social Movement in the 19th and 20th Centuries". American Sociological Review. 29 (5): 761–762. doi:10.2307/2091432. ISSN0003-1224. JSTOR2091432.
Hearder, H. (1961). "Review of Primitive Rebels". The English Historical Review. 76 (298): 167. ISSN0013-8266. JSTOR557139.
Helleiner, Karl F. (1960). "Review of Primitive Rebels: Studies in Archaic Forms of Social Movement in the 19th and 20th Centuries". The Canadian Journal of Economics and Political Science. 26 (4): 660. doi:10.2307/138952. ISSN0315-4890. JSTOR138952.
Pin, E. (1959). "Review of Primitive Rebels, Studies in Archaic Forms of Social Movement in the 19th and 20th Centuries". Gregorianum. 40 (4): 818. ISSN0017-4114. JSTOR23571641.
Redlich, Fritz (1960). "Review of Primitive Rebels, Studies in Archaic Froms of Social Movement in the 19th and 20th Centuries". Vierteljahrschrift für Sozial- und Wirtschaftsgeschichte. 47 (3): 416. ISSN0042-5699. JSTOR20728441.
S., M. F. (1959). "Review of Primitive Rebels - Studies in Archaic Forms of Social Movement in the 19th and 20th Centuries". Il Politico. 24 (3): 559–560. ISSN0032-325X. JSTOR43208958.
Tank, Pinar (2001). "Review of Primitive Rebels or Revolutionary Modernizers? The Kurdish National Movement in Turkey by Paul White". Journal of Peace Research. 38 (5): 652. ISSN0022-3433. JSTOR424798.