Tyranny

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. Advance praise: 'Learned, searching essays directed toward the recovery of the notion of tyranny from Machiavelli's almost successful attempt to suppress it. Anyone who wants to understand modern politics will profit from Waller Newell's eye-opening analysis.' Harvey Mansfield, Harvard University and Hoover Institution, Stanford University Advance praise: 'In this extraordinary new book, Waller Newell offers the first systematic account of the difference between ancient and modern tyranny. The author argues that modern tyrannies are the products of modern philosophy. To understand tyranny aright we must view it as part of the revolutionary effort of modern philosophers to provide the tools for the conquest of nature, including human nature ... This book should prove an instant classic taking its place alongside other seminal studies of modern totalitarianism by the likes of Hannah Arendt and Raymond Aron.' Steven B. Smith, Alfred Cowles Professor of Political Science, Yale University Advance praise: '[A] powerful challenge to recent, more democratic, and ethical readings of Machiavelli. Ancient and modern understandings of tyranny are fundamentally different, Newell argues, because they rest on different understandings of nature - both cosmic and human. Whereas the classical view of tyranny to be found in the works of Plato, Aristotle, and Xenophon is essentially erotic, the modern view originated by Machiavelli consists in a will to master and transform human beings as well as the world in which we live.' Catherine H. Zuckert, University of Notre Dame and editor of Political Philosophy in the Twentieth Century (2011) Advance praise: 'A distinguished scholar of the history of political philosophy elaborates a study of [tyranny] ... that dark but recurring phenomenon. By focusing on Machiavelli as the hinge of fate in the theory and meaning of tyranny, Newell reveals the historical dynamic that has brought into being the peculiar combination of the demonic and the prosaic that characterizes tyranny in our late modern epoch.' Thomas L. Pangle, University of Texas, Austin Advance praise: 'A masterful account of the fatal evolution of tyranny from ancient to modern and from charm to terror ... offers insightful analyses of political thought from Plato to Hobbes and beyond.' Barry Strauss, Cornell UniversityAcknowledgments; Introduction: the conquest of eros; 1. The ontology of tyranny; 2. The tyrant and the statesman in Plato's political philosophy and Machiavelli's rejoinder; 3. Superlative virtue, monarchy, and political community in Aristotle's Politics; 4. Tyranny and the art of ruling in Xenophon's Education of Cyrus; 5. Machiavelli, Xenophon, and Xenophon's Cyrus; 6. Glory and reputation: Machiavelli's new prince; 7. The republic in motion: Machiavelli's vision of the new Rome; Conclusion: tyranny ancient and modern; Epilogue: the hermaneutical problem of tyranny; Bibliography.