How do communities survive catastrophe? Using classical Athens
as its case study, this book argues that if a democratic community
is to survive over time, its people must choose to go on together.
That choice often entails hardship and hard bargains. In good
times, going on together presents few difficulties. But in the face
of loss, disruption, and civil war, it requires tragic sacrifices
and agonizing compromises.
"Athenian Legacies" demonstrates with flair and verve how the
people of one influential political community rebuilt their
democratic government, rewove their social fabric, and, through
thick and thin, went on together. The book's essays address
amnesty, civic education, and institutional innovation in early
Athens, a city that built and lost an empire while experiencing
plague, war, economic trauma, and civil conflict.
As Ober vividly demonstrates, Athenians became adept at
collective survival. They conjoined a cultural commitment to
government by the people with new institutions that captured the
social and technical knowledge of a diverse population to recover
from revolution, foreign occupation, and the ravages of war. Ober
provides insight into notorious instances of Athenian injustice,
explaining why slaves, women, and foreign residents willingly
risked their lives to support a regime in which they were
systematically mistreated. He answers the question of why Socrates
never left a city he said was badly governed.
At a time when social scientists debate the cultural grounding
necessary to foster democracy, "Athenian Legacies" advances new
arguments about the role of diversity and the relevance of shared
understanding of the past in creating democracies that flourish
when the going gets rough.
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