Overview

This book explores a little-noticed tradition in the history of European political thought. From Plato to Aristotle to Tacitus and Machiavelli, and from Tocqueville to Max Weber and Hannah Arendt, political thinkers have examined the tyrannies of their times and have wondered how these tyrannies come about, how they work, and how they might be defeated. In examining this perennial problem of tyranny, Roger Boesche looks at how these thinkers borrowed from the past—thus entering into an established dialogue—to analyze the present. Although obviously tyrannies are not identical over time (Hitler certainly did not rule as Nero), we can learn partial lessons from past thinkers that can help us to better understand twentieth-century tyrannies.

Full Product Details

Author:   Roger Boesche
Publisher:   Pennsylvania State University Press
Imprint:   Pennsylvania State University Press
Dimensions:   Width: 15.20cm , Height: 3.00cm , Length: 22.90cm
Weight:   0.862kg
ISBN:  

9780271014586

ISBN 10:   027101458
Pages:   504
Publication Date:   15 September 1995
Audience:   College/higher education ,  Professional and scholarly ,  Undergraduate ,  Postgraduate, Research & Scholarly
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   Manufactured on demand  
We will order this item for you from a manufactured on demand supplier.

Table of Contents

Contents Preface Introduction 1. Plato: The Political Psychology of Tyranny 2. Aristotle: Tyranny as Unnatural 3. Tacitus: Tyranny as a Politics of Pretense 4. Machiavelli: Defeating Princely Tyrannies 5. Montesquieu’s Two Theories of Despotism: Fearing Monarchs and Merchants 6. Tocqueville: The Pleasures of Servitude 7. Marx: Despotism of Class and Workplace 8. Freud: The Reproduction of Tyranny 9. Weber: The Inevitability of Bureaucratic Domination 10. Fromm, Neumann, and Arendt: Three Early Interpretations of Nazi Germany Conclusion: Thinking About Tyranny Afterword Index

Reviews

Always clear and concise. . . . original. . . . provocative. American Historical Review

A great achievement in the scholarship of political philosophy. Anyone who wants to think deeply about the meaning of tyranny must read it. -American Political Science Review (APSR) Lucid in its analysis and accessible in style, Boesche's book will prove to be a wonderful companion piece for students looking for a fresh interpretive angle on the classic texts of political philosophy. -Review of Metaphysics This book is an unexpected pleasure. Unexpected, because the topic of tyranny might seem antiquated, dark, and plain uninviting. But the subject becomes perversely fascinating under Roger Boesche's pen. Written in steady, jargon-free prose, Theories of Tyranny holds the reader's attention and sustains one's interest over the course of almost 500 pages. . . . Each well-researched chapter contains insightful gems. . . . The strength of the book-I would even say the marvel of the book-is that Boesche truly identifies or at least creatively redescribes an entire subterranean 'tradition' of discourse in the European canon just at the time when that form of theorizing was thought to be exhausted or discredited. -Political Theory [Boesche's] treatment of such different authors as Tacitus, Tocqueville, and Freud is clever, elegant, and never perfunctory; his final definition of tyranny as 'the form of government that least meets human needs' is both correct and attractive, for it reminds us that tyranny is not only the symbol of political evil but also an actual form of government that too many people have experienced. -Booklist Always clear and concise. . . . original. . . . provocative. -American Historical Review This book is not only a significant historical and analytical study of the idea and concept of tyranny-a project that is in itself unique and distinctive-but a sensitive and creative rendering of the classic texts that are discussed as well as of the work of twentieth-century theorists such as Arendt. -John Gunnell, SUNY at Albany This is a very useful volume on an important, but neglected, topic. Boesche skillfully reconstructs the rich tradition of reflection on tyranny in Western political thought. -Bernard Yack, University of Wisconsin

<p> Always clear and concise. . . . original. . . . provocative. <p>--American Historical Review

This is a very useful volume on an important, but neglected, topic. Boesche skillfully reconstructs the rich tradition of reflection on tyranny in Western political thought. --Bernard Yack, University of Wisconsin Always clear and concise. . . . original. . . . provocative. --American Historical Review [Boesche's] treatment of such different authors as Tacitus, Tocqueville, and Freud is clever, elegant, and never perfunctory; his final definition of tyranny as 'the form of government that least meets human needs' is both correct and attractive, for it reminds us that tyranny is not only the symbol of political evil but also an actual form of government that too many people have experienced. --Booklist Lucid in its analysis and accessible in style, Boesche's book will prove to be a wonderful companion piece for students looking for a fresh interpretive angle on the classic texts of political philosophy. --Review of Metaphysics A great achievement in the scholarship of political philosophy. Anyone who wants to think deeply about the meaning of tyranny must read it. --American Political Science Review (APSR) This book is not only a significant historical and analytical study of the idea and concept of tyranny--a project that is in itself unique and distinctive--but a sensitive and creative rendering of the classic texts that are discussed as well as of the work of twentieth-century theorists such as Arendt. --John Gunnell, SUNY at Albany This book is an unexpected pleasure. Unexpected, because the topic of tyranny might seem antiquated, dark, and plain uninviting. But the subject becomes perversely fascinating under Roger Boesche's pen. Written in steady, jargon-free prose, Theories of Tyranny holds the reader's attention and sustains one's interest over the course of almost 500 pages. . . . Each well-researched chapter contains insightful gems. . . . The strength of the book--I would even say the marvel of the book--is that Boesche truly identifies or at least creatively redescribes an entire subterranean 'tradition' of discourse in the European canon just at the time when that form of theorizing was thought to be exhausted or discredited. --Political Theory

Always clear and concise. . . . original. . . . provocative. --American Historical Review

This is a very useful volume on an important, but neglected, topic. Boesche skillfully reconstructs the rich tradition of reflection on tyranny in Western political thought. -Bernard Yack, University of Wisconsin This book is not only a significant historical and analytical study of the idea and concept of tyranny-a project that is in itself unique and distinctive-but a sensitive and creative rendering of the classic texts that are discussed as well as of the work of twentieth-century theorists such as Arendt. -John Gunnell, SUNY at Albany Always clear and concise. . . . original. . . . provocative. -American Historical Review [Boesche's] treatment of such different authors as Tacitus, Tocqueville, and Freud is clever, elegant, and never perfunctory; his final definition of tyranny as 'the form of government that least meets human needs' is both correct and attractive, for it reminds us that tyranny is not only the symbol of political evil but also an actual form of government that too many people have experienced. -Booklist This book is an unexpected pleasure. Unexpected, because the topic of tyranny might seem antiquated, dark, and plain uninviting. But the subject becomes perversely fascinating under Roger Boesche's pen. Written in steady, jargon-free prose, Theories of Tyranny holds the reader's attention and sustains one's interest over the course of almost 500 pages. . . . Each well-researched chapter contains insightful gems. . . . The strength of the book-I would even say the marvel of the book-is that Boesche truly identifies or at least creatively redescribes an entire subterranean 'tradition' of discourse in the European canon just at the time when that form of theorizing was thought to be exhausted or discredited. -Political Theory Lucid in its analysis and accessible in style, Boesche's book will prove to be a wonderful companion piece for students looking for a fresh interpretive angle on the classic texts of political philosophy. -Review of Metaphysics A great achievement in the scholarship of political philosophy. Anyone who wants to think deeply about the meaning of tyranny must read it. -American Political Science Review (APSR)

Author Information

Roger Boesche is Professor of Politics at Occidental College. He is the author of The Strange Liberalism of Alexis de Tocqueville (1987) and editor of Alexis de Tocqueville: Selected Letters on Politics and Society (1985).

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