American dionysia : violence, tragedy, and democratic politics /

Violence and tragedy riddle democracy, not due to fatal shortcomings or unnecessary failures, but because of its very design and success. To articulate this troubling claim, Steven Johnston explores the cruelty of democratic founding, the brutal use democracies make of citizens and animals during wa...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Johnston, Steven
Format: Book
Language:English
Published: Cambridge ; New York : Cambridge University Press, 2015.
Subjects:
Table of Contents:
  • Introduction: There will be blood: antinomies of democracy
  • 1. American dionysia
  • 2. Democracy at war with itself: citizens
  • 3. Democracy at war with itself: animals
  • 4. Forcing democracy to be free: Rousseau to Springsteen
  • 5. Two cheers for democratic violence
  • 6. New tragic democratic traditions
  • Conclusion: democracy's tragic affirmations.