The Struggle for Democracy

by Watson, Patrick; Barber, Benjamin R.

• ISBN13: 9781552631683
• ISBN10: 1552631680
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2001-03-01
• Publisher: Firefly Books Ltd

Summary

What is the price we pay for democracy? Is democracy fair to minorities? Is democratic law a tool against tyranny, or does it suppress the individual? Can democracy endure the next century? Patrick Watson and Benjamin Barber explore these and dozens of other questions in the international bestseller, The Struggle for Democracy. Sweeping across space and time in the spirit of a quest, this book tells the story of the growth of democracy, its heroes and heroines, its enemies, its failures and successes; the threats to democracy from the nuclear age, from the microchip, from pollution, poverty, and apathy. The companion volume to a 12-part series to air on History Television, this book, now available in paperback, is the perfect resource for anyone wanting to understand the origins of democracy and the constant struggles necessary to ensure its survival.

Author Biography

Patrick Watson is a writer, director, actor, television host, and interviewer. He was the co-creator and host of the twelve-part PBS television series The Struggle for Democracy (1989): a series that has aired in more than thirty countries around the world, including the merging free countries of Eastern Europe. Chair of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation from 1989 to 1994, he is now creative director of the CRB Foundation's Heritage Project and commissioning editor, documentaries, for History Television.

Benjamin R. Barber is the Walt Whitman Professor of Political Science and the director of the Walt Whitman Center for the Culture and Politics of Democracy at Rutgers University. He was the co-writer of the international television series The Struggle for Democracy and its companion volume. He is the author of fourteen books, including the classic Strong Democracy, most recently Jihad vs. McWorld, and the forthcoming Clinton memoir, Speak Truth to Power: Intellectuals in the Clinton White House.