'A splendid book: economical invigorating and surprising' The Times 'He has that gift both
as a podcaster and as a writer to illuminate abstruse and abstract ideas with human charm'
Observer In this bold new follow-up to Confronting Leviathan David Runciman unmasks modern
politics and reveals the great men and women of ideas behind it. What can Samuel Butler's
ideas teach us about the oddity of how we choose to organise our societies? How did Frederick
Douglass not only expose the horrors of slavery but champion a new approach to abolishing it?
Why should we tolerate snobbery betrayal and hypocrisy as Judith Shklar suggested? And what
does Friedrich Nietzsche predict for our future? From Rousseau to Rawls fascism to feminism
and pleasure to anarchy this is a mind-bending tour through the history of ideas which will
forever change your view of politics today.
