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"'Idiosyncratic, brilliant and very original.' Paul Kennedy 'Stimulating and deft... an impressive and interesting book.' Andrew Roberts, Daily Telegraph 'John Dunn has given us a rare thing: an intellectually aristocratic book written for a profoundly democratic age.' Sunil Khilnani, Financial Times 'Dunn wears his erudition lightly and writes clearly and freshly about some of politics' most venerable questions... Blows a gust of fresh air through the cobwebbed byways of political thought' John Gray, Independent
--This text refers to the
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"'Rich and subtle... A masterly performance... Lucidly and provocatively written... Next time you hear the word democracy, reach for this book. If you want to think harder about democracy's shortcomings and challenges, it is an excellent place to start.' Economist 'A signal, beautifully written book... It is also a joy to read. The truth can entertain as well as make us free.' Roy Hattersley, The Times 'Exhilarating, gripping and full of mordant phrases... Magnificent.' David Marquand, New Statesman 'Remarkable.... written in a spare, incisive English style which at its best is worthy of Hobbes'. Jonathan Sumption, Spectator"
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
7 of 9 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This should be a good book and I'd like to have given it a good review. A one-volume history of democratic theory should be useful not only for undergraduates but also for teachers of citizenship.
Sadly the expression lets this book down. It is laboured and imprecise. Dunn assumes considerable knowledge on the part of the reader sometimes but not at others(he assumes the reader will know the word "cathected" but feels he has to explain "legislator". Dates are given or not given on what seems a random basis. I could go on but there's no real point - if you know enough to folow the author's argument then you don't need the book. What is sad is the lengthy acknowledgement section which lists many people who should have said "There's a good book in here, but it needs to be gone over line by line". Clearly they didn't.
Sadly the expression lets this book down. It is laboured and imprecise. Dunn assumes considerable knowledge on the part of the reader sometimes but not at others(he assumes the reader will know the word "cathected" but feels he has to explain "legislator". Dates are given or not given on what seems a random basis. I could go on but there's no real point - if you know enough to folow the author's argument then you don't need the book. What is sad is the lengthy acknowledgement section which lists many people who should have said "There's a good book in here, but it needs to be gone over line by line". Clearly they didn't.
Format:Paperback
This book was a wonderful read, I would have to disagree with the other two reviews here as I found it easy to follow and well structured. Though not all dates are present it is easy enough to use the internet to look up any other information required if that it what you choose to do. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this and look forward to more books in the future!
13 of 31 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
They used to tell lecturers that the best way to structure a lecture was:
1. Tell them what you are going to tell them.
2. Tell them what you have to say.
3. Then tell them what you have just told them.
1. Tell them what you are going to tell them.
2. Tell them what you have to say.
3. Then tell them what you have just told them.
This is exactly the structure of this book and of each of its component parts. The result is a book of 246 pages that should have been an essay of 80 pages but probably began (and now ends) life as undergraduate Pol Sci lectures. You can almost hear the drone in the background
The prose is pretentious. Many important passages are written in long ungainly sentences, decked out in unnecessary polysyllabic abstractions.Specific examples are few. A central concept, "the order of egoism", is vaguely defined but worked to death, even though it is little more than veiled right-wing propaganda. And the central theme - the difference in meaning between the word "democracy" and its various practical expressions - is scarcely worthy of such an extensive explication or such high falutin language.
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