ENGLISH

Tyranny: a new interpretation

By Newell , Waller Randy

Book information

Publisher
Cambridge University Press
Year
2013
ISBN
9781107010321, 9781107610736, 9780511846410, 051184641X
Language
english
Format
PDF
Filesize
3 MB (3489040 bytes)
Pages
x, 544 pages) : PDF file(s\555
Time added
2020-07-26 19:24:52
Despotism

Description

This is the first comprehensive exploration of ancient and modern tyranny in the history of political thought. Waller R. Newell argues that modern tyranny and statecraft differ fundamentally from the classical understanding. Newell demonstrates a historical shift in emphasis from the classical thinkers' stress on the virtuous character of rulers and the need for civic education to the modern emphasis on impersonal institutions and cold-blooded political method. By diagnosing the varieties of tyranny from erotic voluptuaries like Nero, the steely determination of reforming conquerors like Alexander the Great and Julius Caesar and modernizing despots such as Napoleon and Ataturk to the collectivist revolutions of the Jacobins, Bolsheviks, Nazis and Khmer Rouge, Newell shows how tyranny is every bit as dangerous to free democratic societies today as it was in the past.

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