The Kenneth Williams Diaries

Suzanne Heywood (Author)

Wavewalker: Breaking Free

'"Wavewalker," I said, exploring the edges of the word. This boat would walk us over th

Alexandra Popoff (Author)

Ayn Rand: Writing a Gospel of Success

A deeply researched biography of the prominent and divisive writer Ayn Rand, whose pro-capitalist

Thomas R. Martin (Author)

Phocion: Good Citizen in a Divided Democracy

6,Thomas R. Martin recounts the unmatched political and military career of Phocion of Athens, and his tragic downfall "Elegant and enlightening."--Dominic Green, Wall Street Journal Phocion (402-318 BCE) won Athens's highest public office by direct democratic election an unmatched forty-five times and was officially honored as a "Useful Citizen." A student at Plato's Academy, Phocion gained influence and power during a time when Athens faced multiple crises stemming from Macedonia's emergence as an international power under Philip II and his son Alexander the Great. Following Athens's defeat by Macedonia, Phocion unsuccessfully sought mild terms of surrender. Oligarchy was imposed on democratic Athens, and more than twelve thousand "undesirable" Athenians were exiled. When the oligarchic regime was overthrown and the exiles returned, dispossessed Athenians took out their volcanic anger on Phocion, who throughout his career had often been a harsh critic of the citizens' political decisions. His inflammatory rhetoric contributed to the popular conclusion that he lacked a genuine sense of belonging to the community he wished so desperately to preserve. When he was eighty-four, the ...