Tyrants

Power, Injustice, and Terror

Waller R. Newell

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Year: 2019
• Print ISBN:
  9781108713917
• eBook ISBN:
  9781108661119
• Topic: Politics & International Relations
• Subtopic: American Government
• Index: Politics & International Relations

The forces of freedom are challenged everywhere by a newly energized spirit of tyranny, whether it is Jihadist terrorism, Putin's imperialism, or the ambitions of China's dictatorship, writes Waller R. Newell in this engaging exposé of a thousand dangers. We will see why tyranny is a permanent threat by following its strange career from Homeric Bronze Age warriors, through the empires of Alexander the Great and Rome, to the medieval struggle between the City of God and the City of Man, leading to the state-building despots of the Modern Age including the Tudors and 'enlightened despots' such as Peter the Great. The book explores the psychology of tyranny from Nero to Gaddafi, and how it changes with the Jacobin Terror into millenarian revolution. Stimulating and enlightening, Tyrants: Power, Injustice, and Terror will appeal to anyone interested in the danger posed by tyranny and terror in today's world.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half-title
• Title page
• Copyright information
• Contents
• Preface
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction: Tyranny Two Years on
• Part One The Rage of Achilles: From Homeric Heroes to Lord and God of the World
• Part Two City of God or City of Man? The Tyrant as Modern State Builder
• Part Three The Eagles Will Drop Dead from the Skies: Millenarian Tyranny from Robespierre to Al Qaeda
• Conclusion: How Democracy Can Win
• Reading for Further Interest
• Index