{"id":3198,"date":"2010-11-02T21:16:13","date_gmt":"2010-11-03T01:16:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/?p=3198"},"modified":"2018-08-05T20:28:43","modified_gmt":"2018-08-06T00:28:43","slug":"tuesday-november-2-2010-the-secret-history-of-democracy-publication-dates","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/?p=3198","title":{"rendered":"Tuesday, November 2, 2010 \u2014 The Secret History of Democracy: Publication Dates"},"content":{"rendered":"

My long-time friend and col\u00adleague, Steve Muhlberg\u00ader and I both have chap\u00adters in an upcom\u00ading book which may inter\u00adest read\u00aders of this blog. The book is The Secret His\u00adto\u00adry of Democ\u00adra\u00adcy<\/em>, edit\u00aded by Ben\u00adjamin Isakhan and Steven Stock\u00adwell, and pub\u00adlished by Pal\u00adgrave Macmillan.<\/span><\/p>\n

The book will be released on Feb\u00adru\u00adary 11, 2011 in Europe and the U.K. (\u00a357.50), and on March 15, 2011 in North Amer\u00adi\u00adca (US<\/span>$85.00). Pre-pub\u00adli\u00adca\u00adtion orders can be made through Ama\u00adzon, which offers a mod\u00adest dis\u00adcount. At this price, I don\u2019t expect it to be a run\u00adaway best\u00adseller, but it is like\u00adly to do well in the insti\u00adtu\u00adtion\u00adal mar\u00adket, so be sure your uni\u00adver\u00adsi\u00adty or major pub\u00adlic library acquires it!<\/span><\/p>\n

My con\u00adtri\u00adbu\u00adtion is \u201cThe Hunters who Owned Them\u00adselves\u201d, a study of self-gov\u00adern\u00adment among the M\u00e9tis peo\u00adple of West\u00adern Cana\u00adda, exem\u00adpli\u00adfied by their high\u00adly orga\u00adnized buf\u00adfa\u00adlo hunts. Steve\u2019s con\u00adtri\u00adbu\u00adtion is \u201cRepublics and Qua\u00adsi-Demo\u00adc\u00adra\u00adt\u00adic Insti\u00adtu\u00adtions in Ancient India\u201d. There are many oth\u00ader inter\u00adest\u00ading-look\u00ading con\u00adtri\u00adbu\u00adtions. The book\u2019s blurb reads:<\/span><\/p>\n

The Secret His\u00adto\u00adry of Democ\u00adra\u00adcy explores the intrigu\u00ading the\u00adsis that there is a lot more democ\u00adra\u00adcy in human his\u00adto\u00adry than his\u00adto\u00adri\u00adans gen\u00ader\u00adal\u00adly admit, and presents some sur\u00adpris\u00ading evi\u00addence for this case. The idea that democ\u00adra\u00adcy could have a \u2018secret\u2019 his\u00adto\u00adry might at first seem strange. Indeed, the his\u00adto\u00adry of democ\u00adra\u00adcy has become so stan\u00addard\u00adized, is so famil\u00adiar and appears so com\u00adplete that it is hard to believe it could hold any secrets. The cen\u00adtral argu\u00adment of this book is that there is much more to the his\u00adto\u00adry of democ\u00adra\u00adcy than this fore\u00adshort\u00adened geneal\u00ado\u00adgy admits. There is a whole \u2018secret\u2019 his\u00adto\u00adry, too big, com\u00adplex and insuf\u00adfi\u00adcient\u00adly \u2018West\u00adern\u2019 in char\u00adac\u00adter to be includ\u00aded in the stan\u00addard nar\u00adra\u00adtive. Against the asser\u00adtion that new democ\u00adra\u00adcies have no demo\u00adc\u00adra\u00adt\u00adic her\u00aditage, the con\u00adtrib\u00adu\u00adtors to this vol\u00adume estab\u00adlish that democ\u00adra\u00adcy was devel\u00adop\u00ading in the Mid\u00addle East, India and Chi\u00adna before clas\u00adsi\u00adcal Athens, clung on dur\u00ading the \u2018Dark Ages\u2019 in Islam, Ice\u00adland and Venice, was often part of trib\u00adal life in Africa, North Amer\u00adi\u00adca and Aus\u00adtralia and is devel\u00adop\u00ading today in unex\u00adpect\u00aded ways through grass\u00adroots activism. This book is a time\u00adly col\u00adlec\u00adtion of essays that make a sub\u00adstan\u00adtial con\u00adtri\u00adbu\u00adtion to the emerg\u00ading debate about the his\u00adto\u00adry of democ\u00adra\u00adcy and set the tone for future dis\u00adcus\u00adsion and research. <\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

The book has been pos\u00adi\u00adtive\u00adly reviewed by John Markoff, the wide\u00adly respect\u00aded author of Waves of Democ\u00adra\u00adcy<\/em>, one of the major works in the mod\u00adern revival of demo\u00adc\u00adra\u00adt\u00adic schol\u00adar\u00adship. Markoff writes:<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201c<\/span>The thought-pro\u00advok\u00ading essays gath\u00adered in The Secret His\u00adto\u00adry of Democ\u00adra\u00adcy pro\u00advide con\u00advinc\u00ading evi\u00addence that demo\u00adc\u00adra\u00adt\u00adic mech\u00ada\u00adnisms have been invent\u00aded many times and in many places, includ\u00ading times and places neglect\u00aded in com\u00admon accounts. This col\u00adlec\u00adtion is a sober\u00ading reminder that demo\u00adc\u00adra\u00adt\u00adic prac\u00adtices have often been suc\u00adceed\u00aded by some\u00adthing else. But one also takes away a sense of the dynam\u00adic char\u00adac\u00adter of demo\u00adc\u00adra\u00adt\u00adic his\u00adto\u00adry and the end\u00adless diver\u00adsi\u00adty of prac\u00adtices with some rea\u00adson\u00adable claim to embody demo\u00adc\u00adra\u00adt\u00adic prin\u00adci\u00adples. As grow\u00ading num\u00adbers won\u00adder about what sorts of polit\u00adi\u00adcal insti\u00adtu\u00adtions make sense in the face of the enor\u00admous prob\u00adlems con\u00adfronting the twen\u00adty-first cen\u00adtu\u00adry, this demon\u00adstra\u00adtion of the long human his\u00adto\u00adry of polit\u00adi\u00adcal cre\u00adativ\u00adi\u00adty gives some rea\u00adson for hope.\u201d<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

I did not want to do a half-assed job for my con\u00adtri\u00adbu\u00adtion, so I immersed myself in both pri\u00adma\u00adry and sec\u00adondary sources. I\u2019ve always been fond of this par\u00adtic\u00adu\u00adlar sub\u00adject, which is one of the most colour\u00adful areas of Cana\u00addi\u00adan his\u00adto\u00adry. The strict length lim\u00adi\u00adta\u00adtions of the book forced me to omit all sorts of fab\u00adu\u00adlous stuff, but I think that the end result is lean-and-mean, and acces\u00adsi\u00adble to an inter\u00adna\u00adtion\u00adal audi\u00adence unfa\u00admil\u00adiar with events that are rarely dis\u00adcussed out\u00adside of Cana\u00adda. The M\u00e9tis peo\u00adple had an extra\u00ador\u00addi\u00adnary \u201cknack\u201d for self-gov\u00adern\u00adment, and the nature and ori\u00adgins of their insti\u00adtu\u00adtions mer\u00adit the atten\u00adtion of world historians. <\/span><\/p>\n

All this reminds me of times spent on the Cana\u00addi\u00adan prairies, years ago, and of one par\u00adtic\u00adu\u00adlar visu\u00adal mem\u00ado\u00adry. The M\u00e9tis com\u00admu\u00adni\u00adty at Batoche built a church, which sur\u00advives today. It embod\u00adies an archa\u00adic style of French Cana\u00addi\u00adan church archi\u00adtec\u00adture which is said to be the ori\u00adgin of New Eng\u00adland\u2019s famous Con\u00adgre\u00adga\u00adtion\u00adal church\u00ades. The New Eng\u00adlan\u00adders, who had come from a coun\u00adtry where church\u00ades were made of stone, and need\u00ading to build in wood, seem to have copied Catholic church\u00ades in adja\u00adcent Que\u00adbec. Iron\u00adi\u00adcal\u00adly, few of the orig\u00adi\u00adnal Que\u00adbec mod\u00adels sur\u00advived (wood\u00aden church\u00ades burn down eas\u00adi\u00adly), and were dis\u00adplaced by a more ornate style in the mid-19th cen\u00adtu\u00adry. But the ear\u00adli\u00ader, sim\u00adpler aes\u00adthet\u00adic trav\u00adeled west, and found a home among the M\u00e9tis. I am not a Church-goer, but if any\u00adthing would tempt me to be one, it is the extra\u00ador\u00addi\u00adnary beau\u00adty of the church of Batoche:<\/span><\/p>\n

\"10-11-02<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/a>
\n<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

My long-time friend and col\u00adleague, Steve Muhlberg\u00ader and I both have chap\u00adters in an upcom\u00ading book which may inter\u00adest read\u00aders of this blog. The book is The Secret His\u00adto\u00adry of Democ\u00adra\u00adcy, edit\u00aded by Ben\u00adjamin Isakhan and Steven Stock\u00adwell, and pub\u00adlished by \u2026<\/p>\n

Read more \u00bb<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wp_typography_post_enhancements_disabled":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,8,946,14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3198","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-a-blog","category-aq-blog-2010","category-b-reading","category-bq-reading-2010"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3198","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3198"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3198\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7739,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3198\/revisions\/7739"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3198"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3198"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.philpaine.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3198"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}