Athenian Democracy - 2nd Edition by Arlene W Saxonhouse (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

Athenian Democracy provides innovative readings of ancient theorists to reveal both the complexity of democracy's achievements and its limits.

In this classic work, noted political scientist Arlene W. Saxonhouse offers fresh and provocative explorations of ancient political theorists, lending new insights about democracy's foundations and principles. These insights are more relevant than ever in a moment when the viability of democratic regimes is under scrutiny. Saxonhouse provides an in-depth discussion of the modern mythmakers (Hobbes, Paine, Hamilton, Mill, and Arendt, among others) who, in praising or excoriating Athenian democracy, have in fact distorted it to support their own assessments of democracy. She then offers detailed reinterpretations of the writings on democracy of four ancient theorists who had directly experienced life in the first democratic regime: Herodotus, Thucydides, Plato, and Aristotle.

Saxonhouse argues that the mythmaking that often attends our views of Athenian democracy--whether as a flawed, slaveholding regime that fostered factions and oppressed women or as an ideal regime of egalitarian and participatory democracy--blinds us to the deeper understanding of democracies that these ancient theorists can offer.

Review Quotes

"Arlene W. Saxonhouse's lively and entertaining discussion . . . is ably conducted by a master teacher who has succeeded in conquering the ancient and modern teachings about democracy." --Perspectives on Political Science

"In this clearly written volume [Saxonhouse] searches for those largely untapped veins of ore overlooked by the majority of scholars who have been misdirected in their own pursuits of the ancients by the modern mythmakers of her subtitle." --Ethics

"By scrupulously insisting on understanding the Greek theorists as they understood themselves, Saxonhouse's lively, engaging book develops fresh perspectives on modern as well as ancient politics." --Stephen G. Salkever, author of Finding the Mean

"In this helpful meditation, an open-minded book, Saxonhouse wonders how the ancient theorists can be brought to the understanding and aid of modern democracy." --American Political Science Review

"Saxonhouse's contribution both forces classicists to think carefully about ingrained presuppositions and habits of reading and also provokes further reflection upon the timely question of what we can learn about our own democratic culture from studying ancient authors who analyzed democracy." --Bryn Mawr Classical Review

"Saxonhouse's judicious account is always interesting and the book abounds in useful insights." --The Review of Politics

About the Author

Arlene W. Saxonhouse is the Caroline Robbins Collegiate Professor of Political Science, Emerita, at the University of Michigan. She is the author of numerous books and articles dealing with ancient Greek political thought, including Free Speech and Democracy in Ancient Athens and Fear of Diversity: The Birth of Political Science in Ancient Greek Thought.