Publisher's Synopsis
Why do people of Western nations simultaneously expect greater and greater individual freedom while finding themselves less and less powerful - in government, at work, even in their own families? People are beginning to wonder if this thing we call "democracy" - our last great faith and the only remaining civil religion in Europe - has let us down. Going back to the origins of our politics, this book shows that the Greeks, the Romans and the founders of modern Western Democracies established practical democratic institutions on grounds very different from the quasi-religious dream of democracy that now pervades our government and society. The author looks at how high-flying utopian impulses from deep in our history have been altered and then grafted onto this peculiar modern notion of democracy, leading to a restless and dangerous search to overcome the human condition. The book teaches us to think more deeply about the nature, complexity and subtlety of our situation. It offers no simplistic recipes but gives us a refreshing understanding of the proper nature of a free and civil society.
