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Phocion: Good Citizen in a Divided Democracy Audiobook
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"Elegant and enlightening." —Dominic Green, Wall Street Journal
Phocion (402–318 BCE) won Athens's highest public office by direct democratic election an unmatched forty-five times and was officially honored as a "Useful Citizen." A student at Plato's Academy, Phocion gained influence and power during a time when Athens faced multiple crises stemming from Macedonia's emergence as an international power under Philip II and his son Alexander the Great. Following Athens's defeat by Macedonia, Phocion unsuccessfully sought mild terms of surrender. Oligarchy was imposed on democratic Athens, and more than twelve thousand "undesirable" Athenians were exiled. When the oligarchic regime was overthrown and the exiles returned, dispossessed Athenians took out their volcanic anger on Phocion, who throughout his career had often been a harsh critic of the citizens' political decisions. His inflammatory rhetoric contributed to the popular conclusion that he lacked a genuine sense of belonging to the community he wished so desperately to preserve. When he was eighty-four, the Athenians convicted him of treason and condemned him to die by hemlock. In this fresh biography, Thomas R. Martin explores how and why Phocion ultimately failed as a citizen and as a leader. His story offers unsettling lessons for citizens in democracies today.
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About Thomas R. Martin
Thomas R. Martin is an American historian and professor at the College of the Holy Cross where he holds the chair “Jeremiah O’Connor” in the Department of Classics at the College of the Holy Cross in Massachusetts, where he teaches courses on Athenian democracy, Hellenism, and the Roman Empire. His publications include Herodotus and Sima Qian, The Making of the West, and Sovereignty and Coinage in Classical Greece. He has contributed to documentaries produced by the History Channel about Roman history, especially to the series Rome: Rise and Fall of an Empire. He earned a BA degree in classics summa cum laude from Princeton University, an MA and PhD in Classical philology from Harvard University, with graduate work at the American School of Classical Studies at Athens.
About Josh Innerst
Cary Hite has performed in several theaters across the country as a cast member in the longest-running African American play in history, The Diary of Black Men. He also appeared in Edward II, Fences, Macbeth, Good Boys, Side Effects May Vary, and the indie feature The City Is Mine. He has voiced several projects for AudibleKids, including Souls Look Back in Wonder, From Slave Ship to Freedom Road, and Papa, Do You Love Me?