Love of Glory and the Common Good: Aspects of the Political Thought of Thucydides

by Michael Palmer PhD

Overview

More clearly than any previous work on the subject, Michael Palmer's Love of Glory and the Common Good defines the relationship between Periclean democracy and the decline in Athenian political life that followed the death of Pericles. The author elaborates upon the views of Thucydides, who saw the subsequent tyrannical rule of Alcibiades and the accompanying disintegration of Athenian political life as a logical consequence of the defects in the speeches and deeds that Pericles used to inspire the Athenian people. With careful attention to details in the order and structure of Thucydides' narrative, Palmer shows this historian as a political thinker of the first rank who deserves the same careful study accorded to Plato and Aristotle.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780847677320
Publisher:	Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc.
Publication date:	01/29/1992
Series:	Perspectives on Classical Political and Social Thought
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	188
Product dimensions:	5.92(w) x 8.94(h) x 0.53(d)

About the Author

Michael Palmer is associate professor political science at the University of Maine. His writings in traditional political theory have appeared in many publications, including Interpretation: A Journal of Political Philosophy, The Review of Politics and American Political Science Review.

Editorial Reviews

. . . well written, and provocatively argued. Anyone interested in Thucydides can profit from this fine book.--Paul Rahe, Hillsdale College

Love of Glory provides interesting arguments. . . . There are valuable insights . . .--Canadian Journal of Political Science

Scholars seeking to understand why democracies have thrived and how they have been undermined can profit from Love of Glory and the Common Good.--The Review of Politics

From the Publisher

The book is often incisive and stimulates reaction and deserves to be added to the Thucydides stable.

The Classical Review

Scholars seeking to understand why democracies have thrived and how they have been undermined can profit from Love of Glory and the Common Good.

Review of Politics

Scholars seeking to understand why democracies have thrived and how they have been undermined can profit from Love of Glory and the Common Good.

The Review Of Politics

Love of Glory provides interesting arguments.. .. There are valuable insights. . .

Canadian Journal of Political Science

.. . well written, and provocatively argued. Anyone interested in Thucydides can profit from this fine book.

Paul Rahe

Palmer has what art critics would call a 'good eye,' ability, shared by too few Thucydidean scholars.

Ethics: An International Journal of Social

.. . many clever insights.. .. This is a good book.

Political Studies Review

The book is often incisive and stimulates reaction and deserves to be added to the Thucydides stable.

Classical Review

Scholars seeking to understand why democracies have thrived and how they have been undermined can profit from Love of Glory and the Common Good.

The Review of Politics

Palmer has what art critics would call a 'good eye,' ability, shared by too few Thucydidean scholars.

Ethics