Democracy
A Life
Published on 24. March 2016
Book
Hardback
412 pages
978-0-19-969767-0 (ISBN)
Description
Democracy is either aspired to as a goal or cherished as a birthright by billions of people throughout the world today - and has been for over a century. But what does it mean? And how has its meaning changed since it was first coined in ancient Greece?
Democracy: A Life is a biography of the concept, looking at its many different manifestations and showing how it has changed over its long life, from ancient times right through to the present. For instance, how did the 'people power' of the Athenians emerge in the first place? Once it had emerged, what enabled it to survive? And how did the Athenian version of democracy differ from the many other forms that developed among the myriad cities of the Greek world?
Paul Cartledge answers all these questions and more, following the development of ancient political thinking about democracy from the sixth century BC onwards, not least the many arguments that were advanced against it over the centuries. As Cartledge shows, after a golden age in the fourth century BC, there was a long, slow degradation of the original Greek conception and practice of democracy, from the Hellenistic era, through late Republican and early Imperial Rome, down to early Byzantium in the sixth century CE.
For many centuries after that, from late Antiquity, through the Middle Ages, to the Renaissance, democracy was effectively eclipsed by other forms of government, in both theory and practice. But as we know, this was by no means the end of the story. For democracy was eventually to enjoy a re-florescence, over two thousand years after its first flowering in the ancient world: initially revived in seventeenth century England, it was to undergo a further renaissance in the revolutionary climate of late eighteenth century North America and France - and has been constantly reconstituted and reinvented ever since.
Democracy: A Life is a biography of the concept, looking at its many different manifestations and showing how it has changed over its long life, from ancient times right through to the present. For instance, how did the 'people power' of the Athenians emerge in the first place? Once it had emerged, what enabled it to survive? And how did the Athenian version of democracy differ from the many other forms that developed among the myriad cities of the Greek world?
Paul Cartledge answers all these questions and more, following the development of ancient political thinking about democracy from the sixth century BC onwards, not least the many arguments that were advanced against it over the centuries. As Cartledge shows, after a golden age in the fourth century BC, there was a long, slow degradation of the original Greek conception and practice of democracy, from the Hellenistic era, through late Republican and early Imperial Rome, down to early Byzantium in the sixth century CE.
For many centuries after that, from late Antiquity, through the Middle Ages, to the Renaissance, democracy was effectively eclipsed by other forms of government, in both theory and practice. But as we know, this was by no means the end of the story. For democracy was eventually to enjoy a re-florescence, over two thousand years after its first flowering in the ancient world: initially revived in seventeenth century England, it was to undergo a further renaissance in the revolutionary climate of late eighteenth century North America and France - and has been constantly reconstituted and reinvented ever since.
Reviews / Votes
The huge value of Cartledges book is the reminder that 2016 is merely a way-stop on a very long journey indeed. * Tom Holland, The Guardian * Thanks to Cartledge, Athenian democracy feels more vital than it has done for decades. It is a belter of a book. * Peter Thonemann, Books of the Year 2016, Times Literary Supplement * Paul Cartledge subtitles his new study Democracy (Oxford) A Life, and was right to do so ... The clarity and zest with which he pursues his Snark-like quarry, the breadth and variety of his reading, and his cheerful persistence against odds (matching that of his subject) combine to make this an unexpectedly enjoyable page-turner. * Peter Green, Books of the Year 2016, Times Literary Supplement * If you only ever buy one book on the history of democracy, make it this one. In this study, Paul Cartledge offers a thrilling account, based on his near legendarycourse of lectures at Cambridge, of why it matters more than ever to us today. * Edith Hall, History Today * No library should be without this wonderful book, in which Cartledge has abundantly shared his love and knowledge of ancient Greece with us. * Kirkus Reviews * A stimulating biography of democracy, both in theory and in all its practical manifestations ... also a thoughtful response to those scholars, such as Amartya Sen, who argue that democracy is not 'a quintessentially Western idea'. Cartledge's analysis suggests that it is just that. * Classics for All * a nuanced account of the meanings and meanderings of democracy. An expert in ancient history, Cartledge spends most of his time looking at the emergence of democratic ideas in Greece, but his studies of democracy's "demise" under the Roman and Byzantine empires and its "eclipse" in medieval Europe are equally well-wrought. * Catholic Herald * Cartledge provides this tour of ancient Greek democracy with the expertise that has made him an internationally recognized authority in classical history, and he does so with a literary grace that makes his presentation of classical and modern democracy inviting, engaging, and accessible. This is true for both the academic specialist, who will want this compact scholarly reference at their fingertips, and the broader public, especially those who are interested, in the words of one reader, in 'building a more democratic future.' * Bernard J. Dobski, Society * Indian secularists need to read Democracy: A Life, a delightful whistle-stop tour of ancient Greece, and ponder their position and arguments on the seperation of state and religion. * Parsa Venkateshwar Rao Jr, DNA India * Democracy: A Life is a magisterial and moving account of the fate of democracy, understood as the rule of the masses and political empowerment of the poor, on the basis of some workable definition of freedom and equality. In an easy, graceful style with flashes of revelatory personal expression, Paul Cartledge deploys his stunning mastery of several millennia of human history and deep knowledge of decades of scholarship to bring ancient democracy and its critics, modern as well as ancient, vividly to life. * Danielle Allen, author of Our Declaration: A Reading of the Declaration of Independence in Defense of Equality * Democracy: A Life is a splendid match of author and subject. Paul Cartledge has been thinking deeply about the history and meaning of democracy for most of his own life. The impressive result is a passionate and erudite biography of a revolutionary idea that became a way of life, tracing the story from democracys radical origins, to its early flourishing, multiple crises, many betrayals, and modern rebirth. Buoyed by Cartledges engaging style and complete mastery of his subject, the reader returns to our own troubled present with new appreciation for democracys deep history, and armed with fresh resources for building a more democratic future. * Josiah Ober, author of The Rise and Fall of Classical Greece * The fruit of a lifetimes learning, this passionately argued book reveals what made ancient Greek democracy so remarkable and so different from the tamer version we have today. By showing how far we have come from the ancient Greeks, Paul Cartledge reminds us how much we still have to learn from them. * David Runciman, author of The Confidence Trap: A History of Democracy in Crisis from World War I to the Present * Just what was ancient Greek democracy and why does it still matter? Scholarly giant Paul Cartledge answers those questions in this learned and readable book that glides gracefully from Aristotle and the stones of Athens to Rome, the Renaissance, the Age of Revolution, and todays era of globalization. * Barry Strauss, author of The Death of Caesar: The Story of Historys Most Famous Assassination *More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Oxford
United Kingdom
Target group
College/higher education
Illustrations
20 black and white halftones
Dimensions
Height: 235 mm
Width: 163 mm
Thickness: 27 mm
Weight
742 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-19-969767-0 (9780199697670)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
New editions
Person
Paul Cartledge was the inaugural A. G. Leventis Professor of Greek Culture in the University of Cambridge, and President of Clare College, Cambridge. Between 2006 and 2010 he was Hellenic Parliament Global Distinguished Professor in the History and Theory of Democracy at New York University. Over the course of his distinguished career he has written and edited numerous books on the ancient Greek world, including The Greeks: A Portrait of Self and Others, Ancient Greece: A Very Short Introduction, and (most recently) After Themopylae, all also published by Oxford University Press. He has also served as historical consultant for the BBC television series The Greeks, and for four Channel 4 documentaries including The Spartans.
Content
ACT I; ACT II; ACT III