The People

A Brief History of Power and Populism from Antiquity to Today
1. Auflage 2026
ISBN: 978-1-041-31058-7
Verlag: Taylor & Francis Ltd

Buch, Englisch, 324 Seiten, Format (B × H): 156 mm x 234 mm

Who are “the people,” and how have they shaped the rise and fall of governments? This exhilarating journey from the ancient Athenian assemblies to today’s algorithm-driven mobs unpacks how rulers, revolutionaries, and demagogues have harnessed the power of the crowd for democracy and destruction.

Since the dawn of politics, leaders have claimed to speak for “the people”—some leading revolutions in their name, others crushing them under the same banner. Through gripping case studies—Cleon’s Athens, the Gracchi brothers’ Rome, Luther’s Reformation, Bolívar, Perón, Trump, Bolsonaro, and Modi—this volume reveals striking patterns to this elusive concept across centuries. Informed by the author’s firsthand experience of national security governance in Mexico, The People’s core intervention is a sharp analytical separation between “populism” and “the popular,” reframing populism as a cultural and emotional phenomenon rather than solely a political strategy.

Designed for undergraduate and postgraduate students, scholars, and informed general readers interested in history, political science, and sociology, The People offers both a fresh perspective on the past and a warning for the future.

Zielgruppe

Academic and Postgraduate

Autoren/Hrsg.

Vázquez, Juan de Dios

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Weltgeschichte & Geschichte einzelner Länder und Gebietsräume Weltgeschichte

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Introduction: A Tale of Two Cities 1. From Athenian Votes to Roman Mobs 2. When Horses Trampled Bureaucrats 3. Of Saints and Sinners 4. Revolutions of Belonging 5. Nation-Making and Myth-Building 6. Roots of Rebellion 7. From Factory Floors to Führers 8. Lines in the Sand 9. Anti-Colonial Dreams, Post-Independence Nightmares 10. By the Shadow of the Lotus 11. El Pueblo Unido 12. The Left-overs 13. Beneath the Bombs 14. The Other Side of Left 15. Avatars, Algorithms, and Angry Digital Mobs 16. When Nations Fail Nature. Epilogue: Persons Meet The People

Über Autor(innen)

Juan de Dios Vázquez, an independent scholar with a Harvard doctorate, was Chief of Staff at Mexico’s Ministry of Security. His research spans populism, political history, and power. He is the author of We Have Never Been Human (2025), A Face Too Familiar (2026), and Barbarians at the Wall (2027, forthcoming).