The Birth of Politics: Eight Greek and Roman Political Ideas and Why They Matter

Book was thoroughly researched and ties the Greek and Roman government foundations together that form a pillar of the US government.The final chapter shows how important this pillar is for the establishment of good, solid governance. Encourage the person interested in understanding how government is founded to read this.

This is an accesible book by an accessible author.

Exceptional book.I like this book because it lays out the main themes and provides good background on each. It makes the book enjoyable to read. I recommend it. The author has strong credentials (Princeton professor of politic).

A most exciting book about ancient political philosophy.

Very satisfactory shipment

This book discusses the major political insights and practices from the Greek and Roman era, how they evolved and how they impact us today. Democracy, for example, in Greek society is not like democracy today. Back then its practice was restricted to male citizens of the polis, with perhaps others who had special status. Some even saw democracy as a bad thing, possibly resulting in mob rule, or at least rule by the ruffians. Plato's republic provided an answer to this by anointing philosophers king, or at least by making philosophers out of kings. This tension between the ruler and the ruled continues to this day, as our American representative democracy can appear to have steered far from the ideal of representation based on principle. Author Lane covers a total of eight concepts including democracy, justice, constitution, virtue, citizenship, cosmopolitanism, republic and sovereignty. It's fascinating how the philosophical ground rules established more than 1800 years are still valid, as we deal with in our own presidential electoral process with issues like citizenship (immigration and so-called anchor babies); cosmopolitanism, with the shrinking of the world by communications and travel technology; sovereignty, with border control and submission to international bodies. The ancient Greeks and Romans began this conversation and it is still going on.

An exciting book that breathes fresh air into the subject illuminating the reader about yesterday and today.