Athens on Trial - Hardcover

Roberts, Jennifer Tolbert

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Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0691056978 ISBN 13: 9780691056975

Publisher: Princeton University Press, 1994

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The Classical Athenians were the first to articulate and implement the notion that ordinary citizens of no particular affluence or education could make responsible political decisions. For this reason, reactions to Athenian democracy have long provided a prime Rorschach test for political thought. Whether praising Athens's government as the legitimizing ancestor of modern democracies or condemning it as mob rule, commentators throughout history have revealed much about their own notions of politics and society. In this book, Jennifer Roberts charts responses to Athenian democracy from Athens itself through the twentieth century, exploring a debate that touches upon historiography, ethics, political science, anthropology, sociology, philosophy, gender studies, and educational theory.

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About the Author:

Jennifer Tolbert Roberts is Professor of History at Southern Methodist University and Associate Professor of Classical Languages and History at the City College of New York and the CUNY Graduate Center. She is the author of Accountability in Athenian Government (Wisconsin) and, with Robert Zaller and Richard Greaves, Civilizations of the West (HarperCollins).

From Library Journal:

Roberts (history, Southern Methodist Univ.) traces the antidemocratic tradition in Western thought from antiquity to the present, locating its origin in reactions to Athenian democracy. Fully cognizant of the difficulties attendant upon getting a true and accurate picture of any period in history--difficulties that become more onerous the further back one peers--she succeeds in convincing the reader of her thesis through the impressive, almost breathtaking wealth of detail she supplies for each period. Her knowledge is both wide and deep, touching on questions "not only of historiography, but also of ethics, political science, anthropology, sociology, psychology, philosophy, gender studies, and educational theory." This study belongs in all pertinent academic collections.
- Leon H. Brody, U.S. Office of Personnel Mgt. Lib., Washington,
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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