FROM DEMOCRATS TO KINGS
From Democrats to Kings
Michael Scott
UK & Commonwealth rights: Icon Books
US rights: Overlook
Dutch rights: Prometheus
World Spanish rights: Ediciones B
All other rights available
'A gloriously entertaining and provocative account of a period of Greek history that is no less important for having so often been overlooked' - Tom Holland.
'EasyCruise.com invited Michael Scott to be a guest lecturer during our first season of Classical Greece tours. He shared his passion for Ancient Greece and certainly inspired our customers as he brought the Classical world to life in his own truly unique style. We are looking forward to welcoming him back' - Stelios Haji-Ioannou
'Coming across as England's answer to Indiana Jones, complete with hat but minus the bullwhip, Michael effortlessly built up a devoted following among the female contingent of the tour, who fired questions after question at him in the hope of some smouldering one-on-one eye contact and velvety, lyrical prose. They were seldom left disappointed' - The Daily Star Sunday
'A real life Indiana Jones' - The Daily Mirror
'Having produced, and/or directed more than 300 film and television productions, both documentary and dramatic forms, I recommend Michael Scott most highly as a writer/presenter' - Paul Saltzman, President, Sunrise Films Limited
'Dr Michael Scott, a research fellow at Cambridge, is making a big splash with his first book - it is on a major historical theme, the transformation of ancient Greek political practice and public discourse from a broadly democratic to a largely monarchical frame, and the storyline is handled with verve and original insights. The treatment is as accessible and punchy as its chapter-titles - 'The Vegetarian Philosopher and the Body-Building
Philanthropist' is one of the tamer ones - and a wide readership cannot fail to be entertained as well as instructed about a world that is both familiar and alien, modern as well as ancient' - Paul Cartledge, AG Leventis Professor of Greek Culture, University of Cambridge, and a Fellow of Clare College Cambridge
Hear Michael talk about the book at www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jq0AN_sIp3g
Everyone has heard about Athenian democracy, the height of liberty in the ancient world. Everyone has heard about Alexander the Great, the most powerful despot to rule the planet. But no book – academic or popular history – has told the story about how the world of Athenian democracy morphed into the world of King Alexander. In less than 100 years, the Greek world was turned on its head and changed completely forever. This book is about that 100 years of world change. It tells the story of how a way of life that the modern western world has held up as its progenitor and ideal so quickly evolved into its antithesis. Democrats to Kings – how and why did it happen and, more importantly, why is it a story which matters for us today?
It matters because every single one of the debates, decisions and actions which occurred in that 100 year period resonates with the critical issues facing our world today. The key players in ancient Greece – philosophers like Socrates, generals like Epaminondas, statesmen like Demosthenes and rulers like Philip of Macedon – had to fight to understand and stay ahead of a society in a state of constant change, replying on little more than their own character and nerve. These people had to respond quickly to crises of identity, community, immigration, nation building, military intervention, political instability, poverty and civil war or else be carried away on the tsunami which was ferrying Greece headlong into a new world. For some, that meant following their beliefs to their own death. For others, it meant a careful tap dance of political diplomacy and for others still it meant a cruel and calculated usurpation of power.
Just like today as people respond differently to the complexities with which they and the world are faced, so too these ancients had to feel their own individual ways through the darkness. This book follows these characters, exploring the dilemmas they faced and showing how and why they responded in the ways that they did. It is a story about people who, whether they knew it or not, were changing the world. Through their stories, we see the crumbling of democracy, flirtations with oligarchy, the catastrophic effects of civil war, the decadent effects of sudden wealth, the sadistic playfulness of foreign potentates, the rebuilding of ruined cities, the xenophobic treatment of foreigners, the rise of nationalism and the battle between blood communities.
This is the story of ancient Greece and its most turbulent period of change, a time in which Greece faced many of the problems that divide our world today. Through the council chamber, the theatre, the back street, the prison, the brothel, the religious sanctuary and the battlefield, this book brings the ancient Greek world to life and makes its most famous characters walk again. It tells a story never told before – one which the modern world can ignore only at its peril.
Dr Michael Scott, 28, is the Moses Finley Research Fellow and an Affiliated Lecturer at Cambridge University. He has lectured and researched extensively across Europe and the US. Currently, he divides his time between lecturing undergraduates in Cambridge, researching in Athens, working with schools across the UK to encourage interest in the ancient world, running marathons and undertaking outbound adventures for charity (like hiking and biking across Costa Rica), leading cruise tours around the Mediterranean to ancient sites and appearing as on-screen consultant and presenter for TV programmes about the ancient world. His recent work for the History Channel includes talking about ancient spying, oracles of the dead, luxuries, sea battles and methods of execution for the Ancient Discoveries series, ancient sex in Egyptian Erotica, and about Alexander the Great and Cleopatra in the soon to be broadcast series Ancients Behaving Badly. From Democrats to Kings is his first book.
www.michaelcscott.com
