Notes on Democracy
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Narrated by:
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Stefan Rudnicki
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By:
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H. L. Mencken
About this listen
Written during the 1920s, an era that reflects much of our modern times 100 years later, this book by culture critic and scholar Mencken dissects what democracy is.
The book’s three parts are “Democratic Man,” “The Democratic State” that includes a chapter on popular will and a chapter on politicians, and “Democracy and Liberty” with a section on corruption under democracy, followed by a “Coda” that discusses the future of democracy.
The author places politicians into two camps: the demagogue, who “preaches doctrines he knows to be untrue to men he knows to be idiots” and the demi-slave, “who listens to what these idiots have to say and then pretends that he believes it himself.” He depicts politicians as “men who have sold their honor for their jobs.”
Mencken, who covered the 1920s’ Scopes Trial, has been called one of America’s greatest journalists. Here, with his cynical humor, he skewers big government, Puritanism, and sanctimony.
Originally published in 1926.
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The Reign of Terror continues to fascinate scholars as one of the bloodiest periods in French history, when the Committee of Public Safety strove to defend the first Republic from its many enemies, creating a climate of fear and suspicion in revolutionary France. R. R. Palmer's fascinating narrative follows the Committee's deputies individually and collectively, recounting and assessing their tumultuous struggles in Paris and their repressive missions in the provinces.
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A Warning
- By Josh Rowe on 03-20-21
By: R. R. Palmer, and others
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We the Fallen People
- The Founders and the Future of American Democracy
- By: Robert Tracy McKenzie
- Narrated by: Bob Souer
- Length: 10 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
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We the Fallen People presents a close look at the ideas of human nature to be found in the history of American democratic thought. McKenzie, following C. S. Lewis, claims there are only two reasons to believe in majority rule: because we have confidence in human nature - or because we don't. The Founders subscribed to the biblical principle that humans are fallen and their virtue is always doubtful, and they wrote the US Constitution to frame a republic intended to handle our weaknesses.
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Thoughtful reflection and historical perspective, but ultimately no easy answer
- By Brandon on 03-28-23
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Anarchism and Other Essays
- By: Emma Goldman
- Narrated by: Suzanne Toren
- Length: 8 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
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Among the men and women prominent in the public life of early 20th-century America there are but few whose names are mentioned as often as that of Emma Goldman. Yet the real Emma Goldman is almost quite unknown. Here are powerful, penetrating, prophetic essays on direct action, the role of minorities, prison reform, puritan hypocrisy, and violence.
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Critical reading for today's world
- By Darwin on 02-27-17
By: Emma Goldman
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On the Genealogy of Morals
- A Polemic
- By: Friedrich Nietzsche
- Narrated by: Duncan Steen
- Length: 6 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
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In On the Genealogy of Morals, subtitled "A Polemic", Nietzsche furthers his pursuit of a clarity that is less tainted by imposed prejudices. He looks at the way attitudes towards 'morality' evolved and the way congenital ideas of morality were heavily colored by the Judaic and Christian traditions.
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Be strong, not weak.
- By Wayne on 06-24-13
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The Enlightenment
- The Pursuit of Happiness, 1680-1790
- By: Ritchie Robertson
- Narrated by: Jonathan Keeble
- Length: 40 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
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This magisterial history - sure to become the definitive work on the subject - recasts the Enlightenment as a period not solely consumed with rationale and reason, but rather as a pursuit of practical means to achieve greater human happiness.
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The quickest 40 hour audio book I’ve listen to
- By Joey Caster on 04-02-21
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The Strenuous Life: Essays and Addresses of Theodore Roosevelt
- By: Theodore Roosevelt
- Narrated by: George Doyle
- Length: 7 hrs and 5 mins
- Unabridged
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"The Strenuous Life: Essays and Addresses" is a collection of Theodore Roosevelt's published commentaries and public addresses on what is necessary for a vital and healthy political, social and individual life. Roosevelt states the main point of his speech in the opening remarks: "I wish to preach, not the doctrine of ignoble ease, but the doctrine of the strenuous life, the life of toil and effort, of labor and strife.
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Good book. Poor presentation.
- By Thomas on 01-27-20
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Reflections on the Revolution in France
- By: Edmund Burke
- Narrated by: Bernard Mayes
- Length: 11 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
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This famous treatise began as a letter to a young French friend who asked Edmund Burke’s opinion on whether France’s new ruling class would succeed in creating a better order. Doubtless the friend expected a favorable reply, but Burke was suspicious of certain tendencies of the Revolution from the start and perceived that the revolutionaries were actually subverting the true "social order". Blending history with principle and graceful imagery with profound practical maxims, this book is one of the most influential political treatises in the history of the world.
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A good historical perspective
- By CMC on 08-30-14
By: Edmund Burke
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The Story of Philosophy
- The Lives and Opinions of the Greater Philosophers
- By: Will Durant
- Narrated by: Grover Gardner
- Length: 19 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
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Durant lucidly describes the philosophical systems of such world-famous “monarchs of the mind” as Plato, Aristotle, Francis Bacon, Spinoza, Kant, Voltaire, and Nietzsche. Along with their ideas, he offers their flesh-and-blood biographies, placing their thoughts within their own time and place and elucidating their influence on our modern intellectual heritage. This book is packed with wisdom and wit.
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Fantastic and insightful book
- By ESK on 01-25-13
By: Will Durant
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Philosophy and Opinions of Marcus Garvey Volume 1
- By: Marcus Garvey
- Narrated by: Rodney Louis Tompkins
- Length: 1 hr and 10 mins
- Unabridged
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Marcus Mosiah Garvey Jr. (1887-1940) was a Jamaican political activist, publisher, journalist, entrepreneur, and orator. The Philosophy and Opinions of Marcus Garvey (1923) is a collection of his speeches, setting out his vision of a united Africa. As an early proponent of the Back-to-Africa movement, he encouraged a sense of pride and self-worth among Africans and the African diaspora. Garvey deplored the view of poverty as a virtue and encourages Blacks to be empowered in every sphere of their lives.
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Short and Sweet:
- By matthew a. barrett on 07-07-20
By: Marcus Garvey
What listeners say about Notes on Democracy
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- David
- 12-05-23
If only newsmen wrote as this now
Mencken provides all we need to know in his Chrestomathy and notes. What to do requires other writers and teachers and much character.
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