The Ship of State: Statecraft and Politics from Ancient Greece to Democratic America

Norma Thompson

ISBN 10: 0300088175 / ISBN 13: 9780300088175

Published by Yale University Press, 2001

About this Item

May have limited writing in cover pages. Pages are unmarked. ~ ThriftBooks: Read More, Spend Less.

Seller Inventory # G0300088175I4N00

Bibliographic Details

• Title: The Ship of State: Statecraft and Politics from Ancient Greece to Democratic America
• Publisher: Yale University Press
• Publication Date: 2001
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0300088175
• ISBN 13: 9780300088175
• Binding: Hardcover
• Condition: Very Good
• Dust Jacket Condition: No Jacket
• Weight: 0.95 pounds

About this title

Synopsis

This provocative and illuminating book provides a new perspective on the development of political thought from Homer to Machiavelli, Tocqueville, and Gertrude Stein (who is introduced here, for the first time, as a writer of political significance). Providing nuanced readings of key texts by these and other thinkers, Norma Thompson locates a powerful theme: that the political health of organized political communities--from the ancient polis to the modern state to contemporary democracy--requires a balance between masculine and feminine qualities. Although most critics view the Western tradition as a progression away from misogyny and toward rights for women, Thompson contends that the need for balance in the political community was well understood in earlier eras. Only now has it been almost entirely overlooked in our focus on surface indications of strict gender equality. Thompson argues that political rhetoric must once again promote the reconciliation of masculine and feminine forces in order to achieve effective politics and statecraft.

About the Author

Norma Thompson is associate professor of political science at Yale University.