Adventures in Democracy

Her book is a whistle-stop tour of theory and practice over 2,500 years, but rather than being an intellectually taxing slog, it is a sparkling page-turner full of wit, original insight and unassuming erudition. -- Katja Hoyer * the Guardian * An invigorating reflection on the tensions in liberal democracy. Benner weaves together personal reflections on life in Japan and Eastern Europe with a nuanced account of ancient philosophies that are all too often caricatured. Essential reading for anyone tempted to be complacent about the survival of democracy in the twenty-first century -- Professor Catherine Fletcher This timely work shows how ancient wisdom might save democracies from anarchy and ruin… That she has lived and taught the ideas she writes about gives the book an enjoyable vitality * The Times * Praise for Be Like the Fox -- - * : * A ripping read . . . fascinating, charming, enjoyably unorthodox -- Tim Smith-Laing * the Telegraph * Lively, compulsively readable, fluently written and unshowily erudite -- Terry Eagleton * the Guardian * A gripping portrait of a brilliant political thinker, who understood the dangers of authoritarianism and looked for ways to curb them even though independent speech had become impossible. * The New Yorker *