Setting the People Free

Setting the People Free shows how the word 'democracy' has won this extraordinary eminence, and what that ambivalent victory means. It traces democracy's course from improvised remedy for local Greek difficulties over two thousand years ago, through centuries of near-extinction, to political rebirth late in the eighteenth century, and on to overwhelming triumph since 1945. Throughout this astonishing story John Dunn shows consistently how weak the ties are between the word itself and the many different ideas it has come to evoke. He shows why it has inspired so many, from Periclean Athens until today, but why none of the ideas which claim its mantle deserve the trust they demand in democracy's name.