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Synopsis
"This book is an extraordinary achievement. It is brilliantly conceived and executed, closely argued and erudite, sensitive to textual and political nuance and lucid even at its most inventive and sophisticated. . . . Particular discussions of thinkers, actors and issues are as original as the architecture of the work as a whole. Thus one learns something significant not only about Rousseau, Tocqueville, Madison, Frances Williard, Martin Luther King, Saul Alinsky, and Everett Dirksen, but about larger issues such as what Sabl calls democratic constancy, philosophy and politics, theory and institutions. Many of the book's formulations are memorable, almost all are provocative in ways that stimulate reflection. There is much to argue with in this book, but every argument is one worth having."—Peter Euben, author of Corrupting Youth and The Tragedy of Political Theory
"This is a significant, highly original, and interesting contribution to our understanding of political ethics. The author displays a mastery of a large theoretical literature, which he brings to bear in a restrained way to shed light on the ethical obligations of politicians."—Joseph Bessette, Alice Tweed Tuohy Professor of Government and Ethics, Claremont-McKenna College