Michael Signer

Demagogue (eBook, ePUB)

The Fight to Save Democracy from Its Worst Enemies

• Format: ePub

Produktbeschreibung

A demagogue is a tyrant who owes his initial rise to the democratic support of the masses. Huey Long, Hugo Chavez, and Moqtada al-Sadr are all clear examples of this dangerous byproduct of democracy. Demagogue takes a long view of the fight to defend democracy from within, from the brutal general Cleon in ancient Athens, the demagogues who plagued the bloody French Revolution, George W. Bush's naïve democratic experiment in Iraq, and beyond. This compelling narrative weaves stories about some of history's most fascinating figures, including Adolf Hitler, Senator Joe McCarthy, and General Douglas Macarthur, and explains how humanity's urge for liberty can give rise to dark forces that threaten that very freedom. To find the solution to democracy's demagogue problem, the book delves into the stories of four great thinkers who all personally struggled with democracy--Plato, Alexis de Tocqueville, Leo Strauss, and Hannah Arendt.

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Produktdetails

• Verlag: St. Martin's Publishing Group
• Seitenzahl: 272
• Erscheinungstermin: 3. Februar 2009
• Englisch
• ISBN-13: 9780230618565
• Artikelnr.: 38182691

Autorenporträt

Michael Signer

Inhaltsangabe

Acknowledgements
Introduction: Freedom at the Brink
PART I: THE CYCLE OF REGIMES
The Founding Fathers' Nightmare
Defining the Demagogue
Democracy's Own Worst Enemy
Cleon of Athens
An Enemy of the People
The Student Rebels
A City Learns
PART II: DEMAGOGUERY IN AMERICA
George W. Bush: Demagogue?
Watering the Tree of Liberty
A Peculiar Institution
'King Mob'
The Reign of Terror
The Demagogue and the Devil
America's Achilles Heel
Americans Fight Back
A Red-Baiter and an American Caesar
PART III: THE MODERN STRUGGLE
Ignoring Iraqis
The Cycle Begins Again
A Philosopher-King?
The Neoconservative Pÿre et Fils
Democratic Dominion
The End of Complicity
Seduction and Resolution
PART IV: DEFYING THE DEMAGOGUE
Constitutionalism
The Errors of the Past
Moving Forward
Theory and Practice
From Hubris to Strength
CONCLUSION: AMERICA THE EXCEPTIONAL
Notes
Index