More clearly than any previous work on the subject, Michael Palmer's Love of Glory and the Common Good defines the relationship between Periclean democracy and the decline in Athenian political life that followed the death of Pericles. The author elaborates upon the views of Thucydides, who saw the subsequent tyrannical rule of Alcibiades and the accompanying disintegration of Athenian political life as a logical consequence of the defects in the speeches and deeds that Pericles used to inspire the Athenian people. With careful attention to details in the order and structure of Thucydides' narrative, Palmer shows this historian as a political thinker of the first rank who deserves the same careful study accorded to Plato and Aristotle.
Michael Palmer, is the author of sixteen novels of medical and political suspense, all international bestsellers. His 17th medical and political thriller, OATH OF OFFICE will be released on February 14,2012. In addition to writing, Palmer is an associate director of the Massachusetts Medical Society Physician Health Services, devoted to helping physicians troubled by mental illness, physical illness, behavioral issues, and chemical dependency. He lives in eastern Massachusetts.
