The Fall of Republics: A History from Ancient Carthage to the American Constitution

The Fall of Republics: A History from Ancient Carthage to the American Constitution

$42.00

Review Quotes: "A good lesson on government operation that awards top marks to the Founding Fathers."-- "Kirkus Reviews" Commendation Quotes: " The Fall of Republics is a work of impressive scope and restraint. Thomas Madden...

Add to WishlistCompare

paypalvisamasteramerican expressdiscoverdiners club
Description

Review Quotes:
"A good lesson on government operation that awards top marks to the Founding Fathers."-- "Kirkus Reviews"

Commendation Quotes:
" The Fall of Republics is a work of impressive scope and restraint. Thomas Madden shows that republics rarely die by assassination; they unravel through habit, compromise, and the quiet normalization of excess. The lesson is not that democracy inevitably fails--but that it must be constantly defended." --Amanda Foreman, New York Times bestselling author of A World on Fire: Britain's Crucial Role in the American Civil War

"In this book, Madden's dazzling expertise on the city of Venice is masterfully applied to other complex republics throughout human history, culminating in how they shaped--and continue to shape--the American republic. The result is a monumental achievement and a true gem." --Paul A. Rahe, author of Republics Ancient and Modern

Biographical Note:
Thomas F. Madden is professor of history and director of the Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies at Saint Louis University. His books include Istanbul: City of Majesty at the Crossroads of the World, Venice: A New History, and Empires of Trust: How Rome Built--and America Is Building--a New World.

Commendation Quotes:
"In this book, Madden's dazzling expertise on the city of Venice is masterfully applied to other complex republics throughout human history, culminating in how they shaped--and continue to shape--the American republic. The result is a monumental achievement and a true gem." --Paul A. Rahe, author of Republics Ancient and Modern

Publisher Marketing:

What caused the world's great republics to fall--and what their fate reveals about the dangers facing modern democracies today

In this timely book, distinguished historian Thomas Madden explores the people, events, and factors that led to the collapse of some of the world's most enduring republics--from Carthage to Rome to Venice and beyond--and examines the worrying lessons these failures hold for the United States and other democracies today.

The Fall of Republics not only tells the story of fallen states but also opens a window into how modern democratic republics were built on the ashes of the old. From Machiavelli to John Adams, philosophers and statesmen applied the lessons of lost republics to forge new ones that they hoped would be inoculated against the calamities that brought down their predecessors. The book reveals that republics thrive because they pit interests and powers against each other, balancing them across government branches to ensure stability and avoid tyranny. Republics are strengthened by adversity, which unites citizens despite their differences, and weakened by prosperity and security, which breeds division and partisan strife.

With their eyes on the ancient world, America's founders built important safeguards into the Constitution--but those safeguards are being tested today as the United States accumulates historical hallmarks of broken republics, from political violence to the politicization of the courts. The Fall of Republics offers valuable lessons and insights about what threatens republics--and what's needed to keep them alive.



Review Citations:

  • Kirkus Reviews 05/01/2026 (EAN 9780691195827, Hardcover)