Democracy: A Guided Tour

Democracy: A Guided Tour is a comprehensive and accessible book that provides readers with a deep understanding of the evolution of democracy as an idea and a set of practices.

Leading democratic theorist Jason Brennan guides readers through a wide-ranging tour of the concept of democracy, examining its origins in ancient Greece to its current forms around the world.

The book explores how democracy has shifted from being a fringe idea to the gold standard of political institutions and how the question of who counts as part of the ruling "people" has changed over time. Brennan provides readers with a curated, guided tour of the most important arguments for and against democracy, looking through the core values of stability, virtue, wisdom, freedom, and equality.

The book is designed to help readers understand what is really at stake in democracy and its alternatives, and it comes not a moment too soon given the current political climate.

With its eminently readable introduction to philosophical thinking about democracy, this book is sure to be widely read and highly influential.