Power grabs, partisan stand-offs, propaganda, and riots make for tantalizing fiction, but what do we do when that drama becomes a reality all around us? For a country founded as an escape from British tyranny, the United States seems to have devolved into a land where tyrants rise to power, sycophants blindly follow, and the entire nation suffers. As ancient Greek philosophers warned us, chaotic tragedy unfolds in the absence of reason, and the only cure is a return to wisdom and virtue. America’s founding fathers knew this lesson all too well and dreamed of an enlightened citizenry guided by better-than-ideological dictators. Using contemporary events to illuminate universal human weaknesses, Andrew Fiala charts the perennial history of tyrannical takeovers and the masses who support them and ultimately suffer under their rule. Ultimately, Fiala also points to a solution. Knowing the cyclical nature of tyranny, we can build safeguards against our worst inclinations and keep alive the freedoms our founding fathers envisioned for this nation.

This book aims to recover from ancient and modern thinkers valuable arguments about statesmanship, leadership, and tyranny which illuminate reassessments of political science and practice after the election of Donald Trump. Like almost everyone else, contemporary political scientists were blind-sided by the rise of Trump. No one expected a candidate to win who repeatedly violated both political norms and the conventional wisdom about campaign best practices. Yet many of the puzzles that Trump’s rise presents have been examined by the great political philosophers of the past. For example, it would come as no surprise to Plato that by its very emphasis on popularity, democracy creates the potential for tyranny via demagoguery. And, perhaps no problem is more alien to empirical political science than asking if statesmanship entails virtue or if so, in what that virtue consists: This is a theme treated by Plato, Aristotle, and Machiavelli, among others. Covering a range of thinkers such as Confucius, Plutarch, Kant, Tocqueville, and Deleuze, the essays in this book then seek to place the rise of Trump and the nature of his political authority within a broader institutional context than is possible for mainstream political science.

The problem of tyranny preoccupied Plato, and its discussion both begins and ends his famous Republic. Though philosophers have mined the Republic for millennia, Cinzia Arruzza is the first to devote a full book to the study of tyranny and of the tyrant's soul in Plato's Republic. In A Wolf in the City, Arruzza argues that Plato's critique of tyranny intervenes in an ancient debate concerning the sources of the crisis of Athenian democracy and the relation between political leaders and demos in the last decades of the fifth century BCE. Arruzza shows that Plato's critique of tyranny should not be taken as veiled criticism of the Syracusan tyrannical regime, but rather of Athenian democracy. In parsing Plato's discussion of the soul of the tyrant, Arruzza will also offer new and innovative insights into his moral psychology, addressing much-debated problems such as the nature of eros and of the spirited part of the soul, the unity or disunity of the soul, and the relation between the non-rational parts of the soul and reason.

People write books because they have something to say, but that is not the same as wanting to be heard. One person feels helpless to do anything against an overwhelming force of adversity. No matter how much repression is had, ideas will remain forever free for the taking. Totalitarian regimes rule through authoritarian decrees in hopes of disrupting the distribution of critical discourse among the general population. This brings us to the inference that people are generally reluctant to think critically which is why mediocrity prevails even in the most intellectually rich societies. Society treats intellectuals with ambivalence because we never know what to fully make of their ideas as their standing contemporaries.Mastering the present depicts an impossible task. Learning is influenced by history through its chronicled legacies. There is one reality that trumps all others and that rests with the fact mankind will forever remain developmentally challenged. Knowledge is ever-changing which influences the actual formation of ideas. Generationalism affords exceptionalism to people separated by the ages wrestling with the great crises of their time. It is thought that no greater struggle or terror existed up until the present without ever considering histories long since removed and forgotten from man's existential time capsule. It becomes a matter of undeniable fact that a great deal of history will remain unknown rendering its literal discovery impossible.We dismiss those inadvertent truisms of the unknown as inconsequential speculations that matter little in the present. Man's imperfection is everlasting irrespective of his generational placement in time. To know weakness is to know mortality which in this case is characteristically human. Anything beyond that asks us to be more than what we are. That gives rise to oppression which inspires atrocity only to be recognized as a source of man's historical imperfection.Discover inside to learn more...

“If you’re as worried about the effects of Trump’s election as I am, then this brave and surprising book is for you.” —Reza Aslan, #1 New York Times-bestselling author Democracy is being destroyed by an ancient evil, and modernity is in denial. In Tyranny of Greed, Timothy K. Kuhner reveals the United States to be a government by and for the wealthy, with Trump—the spirit of infinite greed—at its helm. Taking readers on a tour through evolutionary biology, psychology, and biblical sources, Kuhner explores how democracy emerged from religious and revolutionary awakenings. He argues that to overcome Trump’s regime and establish real democracy, we must reconnect with that radical heritage. Our political tradition demands a revolution against corruption. “Many books are announcing the downfall of American democracy, but Tyranny of Greed operates on another level. It’s an original and powerful work of art. Tapping into a deeper awareness, Kuhner helps us recognize this dark time for what it really is—an opportunity for rebirth. Yes, I feel shaken, but also awakened. The more people who read this book, the more transformative our national conversation will become.”—Frances Moore Lappé, bestselling author of Diet for a Small Planet “Explosive, penetrating and utterly compelling, Kuhner charts the death spiral of American democracy as it collapses into the black hole of the religion of money. Never before in human history have noble ideals been corrupted so deeply with the connivance of so many. This book lays tyranny bare for all to see—as a mirror for the human soul.” —Philip Goodchild, author of Theology of Money

Motivated by the reentry of tyranny into political discourse and political action, this new work compares ancient and contemporary accounts of tyranny in an effort to find responses to current political dilemmas and enduring truths. In our globally interconnected world, tyrants are no longer dangerous solely to their subjects and neighbors, but to all. This is where the debate begins as the lessons of classical political philosophy are thrown into the present political crisis of understanding and action.