Author:Alan Ryan
A magisterial, one-volume history of political thought from Herodotus to the present, Ancient Athens to modern democracy - from author and professor Alan Ryan
This is a book about the answers that historians, philosophers, theologians, practising politicians and would-be revolutionaries have given to one question: how should human beings best govern themselves?
Almost every modern government claims to be democratic; but is democracy really the best way of organising our political life? Can we manage our own affairs at all? Should we even try? In the west, do we actually live in democracies? In this extraordinary book Alan Ryan engages with the great thinkers of the past to show us how vividly their ideas speak to us in today's uncertain world.
ALAN RYAN was born in London in 1940 and taught for many years at Oxford, where he was a Fellow of New College and Reader in Politics. He was Professor of Politics at Princeton from 1988 to 1996, when he returned to Oxford to become Warden of New College and Professor of Political Theory until his retirement in 2009. His previous books include The Philosophy of John Stuart Mill, Bertrand Russell: A Political Life and John Dewey and the High Tide of American Liberalism. He is a Fellow of the British Academy.
Reviews of On Politics:
'An engaging and smart survey of major political thinkers ... Through Ryan [they] speak directly to the present' Mark Mazower, Prospect
'Ryan's book is a magnificent piece of work, clear (even when the ideas he's exploring are obscure) and engaging (even when the theory in the original is forbidding) ... anyone remotely interested in political theory will profit from reading or dipping into Ryan's On Politics, whether this is their first acquaintance with the canon of political theory or whether they have been "Hobbing and Locking" for decades ... It's a remarkable experience' Jeremy Waldron, New York Review of Books
'Ambitiously and elegantly covers two and a half millennia of political thinking ... despite covering huge intellectual terrain, [On Politics] a delight both when it explores detail and also when it draws conclusions of a broader perspective' Justin Champion, BBC History Magazine
'On Politics is crammed with smart observations and wise advice' John Keane, Financial Times
'An impressive achievement' Economist
[A] magnificent piece of work, clear (even when the ideas he's exploring are obscure) and engaging (even when the theory is forbidding) ... It's a remarkable experience
—— Jeremy Waldron , New York Review of BooksA brave and clever book ... crammed with smart observations and wise advice
—— John Keane , Financial TimesConcise, lucid ... despite covering huge intellectual terrain, On Politics is a delight both when it explores detail and also when it draws conclusions of a broader perspective
—— Justin Champion , BBC History MagazineMr President, if you are serious about negotiating with Iran, you need ... the best book on contemporary Iranian culture and all of its complexities and contradictions. Don't go to Tehran without it
—— Washington Monthly, ‘What Obama Should Read’The best book yet written on the contradictions of contemporary Iran ... it captures like no book in recent memory the ethos of the country, in elegant and precise prose
—— LA TimesIt is rare to have this perspective delivered in English with such richness and nuance - it is a perspective quite distinct from the reportorial assembly work of Western reporters or the pained laments of Iranian exiles . . . one hopes that American policymakers will take the time to absorb this book
—— Steve Coll, author of Ghost WarsMajd's cosmopolitan perspective permeates his book . . . an impressionistic collection of reporting, memoir, travelogue and commentary
—— Washington PostA detailed study that succeeds in conveying the impact of the Viking age... A fascinating read.
—— Martin Arnold , Literary ReviewEngrossing
—— Mail on SundayThe book is an elegant structure, its joins hidden.
—— Michael Murray-Fennel , Country LifeA fun, light-hearted read.
—— James Innes Williams , Compass MagazineA splendid pontine read.
—— LondonistA delightful and informative romp.
—— Richard Boon , N16As a chronicle of social and architectural history, this is an informative and fun read
—— BookbagAbsorbing… Chang has a novelist’s eye for small detail… Chang weaves a suspenseful, anecdote-laden tale.
—— Nadine O’Regan and Anna Carey , Sunday Business PostOne of those rare non-fiction books that reads like a novel without compromising the quality of research – we couldn’t put it down
—— Topping & Co. Bookshop , Bath ChronicleOne of the most important authors of our age, in that she has shown China to the world.
—— Catholic HeraldThis is an electrifying description of the birth of modern China and an intimate portrait of an extraordinary woman
—— Olivier Philip Ziegler , Good Book GuideChinese political history can be a tough nut to crack, but Chang weaves in and out of Cixi’s biography with an ease that is almost as astounding as the events themselves
—— Rosemary Maccabe , Irish TimesRecords [Higgins’] own travels around the island in search of Roman traces. She includes plenty of anecdotes about the continuing fascination with the Roman past and its penetration of the present.
—— OldieHiggins produced another remarkable British travelogue… that was at once thoughtful, learned, witty and superbly written.
—— William Dalrymple , ObserverFilled with passion and personal interest… Higgins walks us around the landscape of this country as it would have been 2,000 years ago, and in doing so she ably captures the spirit of Britain now, Britain then and Britain in between.
—— Dan Jones , TelegraphWhether at Hadrian’s Wall or in a car park in the City, she [Higgins] shows how Roman traces are woven through British life.
—— Financial TimesA fascinating look at how we have viewed Rome's presence in these islands and what a debt we still owe to Roman achievements.
—— Good Book GuidePart history, part travelogue, [Higgins] also brings to life the eccentric archaeologists who have tried to recapture that lost civilisation.
—— Robbie Millen , The TimesA fresh and readable account
—— Fachtna Kelly , Sunday Business PostUnder Another Sky is not only a work of personal history, it is more personal than that... It is conversational, anecdotal, in a way that makes it easy for [Higgins] to slip in quite a lot of information
—— Nicholas Lezard , GuardianA delightful, effortlessly engaging handbook to the half-lost, half-glimpsed world of Roman Britain... The result is an utterly original history, lyrically alive to the haunting presence of the past and our strange and familiar ancestors
—— Christopher Hart , Sunday TimesThe beauty of this book is not just in the elegant prose and in the precision with which [Higgins] skewers her myths. It is in the sympathy she shows for the myth-makers.
—— Peter Stothard , The TimesEvocative...a keen-eyed tour of Britain.
—— Christopher Hirst , IndependentPacked with fascinating and thought-provoking insights.
—— HeraldA captivating travelogue.
—— Helena Gumley-Mason , LadyA delightfully heady and beautifully written potpourri of a book.
—— BBC History MagazineA fascinating look at the debt we owe to Roman achievements
—— Good Book GuideA fascination exploration
—— Mail on SundayHighly readable but profoundly researched, The Trigger represents a bold exception to the deluge of First World War books devoted to mud, blood and poetry
—— Ben Macintyre , The Timesa fascinating original portrait of a man and his country
—— Country and Town House
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