Overview

An acclaimed historian illuminates today's political situation by examining the relationship between governing and storytelling, from the Middle Ages to the ""post-truth"" present, in these engaging essays. In the wake of Donald Trump's election, renowned medievalist Patrick Boucheron delivered a powerful, probing series of lectures on ""political fictions"" in the context of rising authoritarianism and populism. Adapted here for the first time in English, they offer key insights into how we arrived at our current global moment and what history can teach us about moving forward. Long before Trump parlayed his reality TV character into a presidential victory with the MAGA movement, aspiring rulers have used the art of storytelling and the power of fable to control others. Discussing seminal works from Machiavelli's The Prince and Hobbes's Leviathan to Orwell's 1984 and the writings of Nazi jurist Carl Schmitt, Boucheron explores the profound interconnectedness of political theory and fiction, and the tension between politics and the political.

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Patrick Boucheron is a renowned French historian. He previously taught medieval history at the École normale superieure and the University of Paris, and is currently a professor of history at the College de France. He is the author of twelve books, including Trace and Aura: The Recurring Lives of St. Ambrose of Milan and Machiavelli: The Art of Teaching People What to Fear, and the editor of five, including France in the World, which became a bestseller in France. Willard Wood has translated more than twenty-five books from the French. He is a recipient of the Lewis Galantière Award for Literary Translation and a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship in Translation. Martyn Swain is a professional audiobook narrator who has also acted on stage and screen, produced and voiced content for current-affairs radio, and tutored in media and presentation skills. A simultaneous interpreter for more than thirty years, interpreting in French and English for senior diplomats and international organizations, he interpreted personally for Nelson Mandela shortly after his release from prison. He also speaks German and Spanish.

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