Professor Lynette Mitchell
"At the heart of this book lies the idea that society is a collective enterprise: Aristotle says that a man only comes to exist when he is in a community, since he is by nature a political animal. This book argues that this is the key insight that modern liberal democracy needs to take on board in order to reinvigorate the democratic project. By being steeped in the past, this book not only evaluates contemporary politics and the modern democratic state, but also suggests solutions for its future political health."
Professor Kyriakos Demetriou
"A lucid, versatile, and non-specialist account of the ways liberal democracy, today facing a compound of critical challenges, can learn by revisiting Athenian civic life, institutions, and cultural manifestations. Drawing on Athenian democratic experience, Miller directs us towards imaginative resources which lie dormant in 21st-century civil societies to reinvigorate our political assumptions and hopefully revise our practices before it is too late for democracy to have any meaningful existence. A study of great value in classical reception, it will be of great interest to students of political thought, democratic activists, and citizens of the world who do not consider themselves as mere numbers in a voting equation, but visionary people actively engaged in reinstalling democratic governance."
Professor Daniela Cammack
"Studying Athenian democracy means constantly having to rethink our assumptions as to what democracy has meant and could mean. Jeff Miller grasps the enormous potential of Athens for broadening our sense of the possible, and his deft explorations of Athenian civic ideology, ostracism, sortition for office, public finance and cultural practice show how much we stand to gain by becoming a little more Athenian in our thinking and institutions. This vividly written and engaging book is a feast for the political imagination."
Professor James S. Fishkin
"A thoughtful overview of Ancient Athenian practices with possible implications for modern democracy."
Professor Melissa Lane
"In this engaging book, Jeff Miller shows how the ways in which ancient Athenian democrats managed the wealthy elites among them — by ostracizing them from the city when need be; restricting the occasions for them to dominate elected public offices; and taxing them to provide civic goods — can stimulate reflection on urgently needed democratic reforms today. Noting that many ancient Athenians were buried with their jury service tokens, Miller calls for a similar revitalization of civic community and the meaning of citizenship."
