Humbuggery and Manipulation

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

For the election year comes this study of leadership and its allegedly contemptible methodshypocrisy, lying and manipulationfrom an anthropologist at the University of California-San Diego who believes politicians must violate the ethics of their cultures to do their jobs. Bailey ( The Tactical Uses of Passion , etc.) examines questions at the base of social behaviore.g. what types of followers are there?; why do we routinely let our leaders lie to us? And provocative analysis of current and past political systems, including Communist China, Nazi Germany, colonial India and primitive societies, yields original theories about the true nature of leadership and what function it serves society. Amusing digressions and anecdotes help alleviate the comprehensive study's dizzyingly cerebral monotone. Commendably, Bailey credits his colleagues for ideas that have contributed to his ownespecially those of Gilbert Murray ( Five Stages of Greek Religion ), which are often quoted. While casual readers will be deterred by the dense prose, and the book's main thrust is scholarly, there is here the vision of an insightful and erudite mind. (September)