This volume brings together reflections on the relationship between politics and storytelling, especially within the democratic context. Examples are drawn from the ancient and modern worlds, from classical Greek tragedy and Shakespeare to television, science fiction, and comic books, in order to examine the relationship between the philosophical and the poetical. As a political phenomenon, storytelling is used to confirm the prejudices and uphold the principles that prevail within the culture that produces it, while also providing a means for sparking a criticism of that culture from within. What role should literature play in educating a population, especially as regards one's civic responsibilities and relationship to the political regime, and how does it compete with or complement rational inquiry in providing that education? What observable effects does storytelling in fact tend to have, especially among democratic peoples, and what effects does it have on their political identities, viewpoints, commitments, and behavior? Which passions does it stoke: our hopes or our fears, our suspicions or our loyalties? Can storytelling in democratic times offer resistance to the logic and momentum of democratization or does it only reliably propel it further forward? Does democratic literature only cater to the satisfaction of personal appetites or can it ennoble people so that they are more apt to fulfill their responsibilities to each other as moral agents and fellow citizens? This volume takes diverse approaches to addressing questions like these.

A rioting crowd in a burning city, a lynch mob circling a battered body, a campaigning senator exaggerating the threat of an enemy's bombs-evidence of the power of anger, hate, and fear has lead many political philosophers to call for rationality as the exclusive basis for a stable, just society. Yet Aristotle himself granted emotions a role as significant as that of reason in political life. In this timely book, Marlene K. Sokolon revisits Aristotle's understanding of emotions and finds that his ideas not only resonate with current psychological theories but, more importantly, offer a resource for political life in the twenty-first century. Identifying fourteen political emotions, ranging from pity through envy, benevolence through shame, Aristotle discovered that, inherently, they are neither negative nor positive. Significantly, different emotions have different functions. Anger and love pertain to the well-being of the individual and his/her family and friends. Indignation and benevolence, in contrast, are more concerned with the security of other, unrelated persons. Aristotle asserted that these political emotions, united in a harmonious "symphony" with reason, could lead to stability, justice, moral action, and community. But exactly what are emotions? According to Aristotle, they are both innate physiological processes and psychological assessments of one's political and social environment. This concept, Sokolon shows, stands up surprisingly well in light of current evolutionary, cognitive, and social construct theories. Combining modern science and ancient thought, she concludes by suggesting a framework for understanding the interaction of emotion and cognitive rationality in sociopolitical decision making and behavior.