Overview

How debates over secrecy and transparency in politics during the eighteenth century shaped modern democracy Does democracy die in darkness, as the saying suggests? This book reveals that modern democracy was born in secrecy, despite the widespread conviction that transparency was its very essence. In the years preceding the American and French revolutions, state secrecy came to be seen as despotic--an instrument of monarchy. But as revolutionaries sought to fashion representative government, they faced a dilemma. In a context where gaining public trust seemed to demand transparency, was secrecy ever legitimate? Whether in Philadelphia or Paris, establishing popular sovereignty required navigating between an ideological imperative to eradicate secrets from the state and a practical need to limit transparency in government. The fight over this--dividing revolutionaries and vexing founders--would determine the nature of the world's first representative democracies. Unveiling modern democracy's surprisingly shadowy origins, Carter reshapes our understanding of how government by and for the people emerged during the Age of Revolutions.

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Katlyn Marie Carter is assistant professor of history at the University of Notre Dame. She lives in South Bend, Indiana. Kate Udall's evocative narrative style has earned her two AudioFile Earphones Awards and an Audie nomination. She has recorded over 142 audiobooks for Harper, Doubleday, Tantor, Macmillan, Brilliance, and Audible. Kate has been recognized by ACX as an Approved Producer for her high level of audiobook production. Kate brings a rich sensitivity and intelligence to her performances. Her vibrant work has appeared on stage, television, and film. She is part of the Marvel Universe, playing FBI honcho Hattley in Netflix's Daredevil. She has been a park ranger in Arizona, a college professor in West Virginia, a chef in Oregon, a whitewater kayak guide in California, and a paralegal in Manhattan. As an explorer of the wild world, she has hiked and kayaked in Nepal, Italy, Spain, France, Corsica, Chile, and beyond.

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