Synopsis
An intellectual history tracing civic republican ideas from Renaissance Florence through England to the American founding, centered on virtue, corruption, and fortune.
Core passage idea
Paraphrase · Modern copyrighted workA republic survives only by sustaining civic virtue against the corrupting pull of time and fortune, a fear that traveled from Florence to America.
It recovers a republican language of virtue and corruption that shaped Atlantic politics beneath the better-known liberalism of rights.
To avoid a bubble
Pair with James Harrington, The Commonwealth of Oceana.
Reading note
It is demanding scholarly history; hold onto the through-line of virtue versus corruption across centuries.
Best paired with
James Harrington, The Commonwealth of Oceana