Prime Movers

Ferdinand Mount

• Publisher: Simon & Schuster UK
• Year: 2018
• ISBN:
  9781471156021
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: World History
• Index: History

Ferdinand Mount has been fascinated by the great thinkers and politicians who have shaped human history over the past two millennia In this fascinating, and provocative book, he examines the proposals for a political theory from a number of widely different historical figures. Twelve key people, from the great orator and statesman of Ancient Greece ( Pericles ) to the inspiration of the founding of the state of Pakistan ( Muhammad Iqbal ) we take a colourful and rip-roaring journey through the historical figures who have both inspired and provoked Mount in equal measure. The lives of men such as Jesus Christ, Rousseau, Adam Smith, Edmund Burke, and Thomas Jefferson are discussed and comparisons are drawn between the various approaches each figure promoted in their works – whether philosophical, or political theories. For those wishing to be guided by Mount's choices and be swept along by his brilliantly erudite prose, this will be a particular enjoyable read. Lots of colour, humour and passion governed all these peoplecareersand Mount brings them to life like no one else can. Praise for the international-bestselling Tears of the Rajas: - 'Mount is a skilled and fluent writer who does his subject justice' -- Literary Review 'Mount relates this remarkable story with a gentle wit, a lightness of touch, a boyish enthusiasm as well as a genius for the telling pen-portrait… It is a remarkable story, and cumulatively amounts to an epic panorama of British Indian history much more substantial than the 'collection of Indian tales, a human jungle book', which Mount modestly describes as his aim in the introduction.' -- William Dalrymple, The Spectator 'What [Mount] provides instead is of far greater value: a perceptive antidote to nationalistic prejudicial thinking, and an opportunity for a greater understanding of the aftereffects of British imperialism in some of the world's most troubled regions.' Sunday Times 'Although Tears of the Rajas is replete with stirring tales of adventure, it is a deeply humane book. Mount's heart is at all times with the people of India, whose lives are turned upside down by blundering attempts at modernisation.' The Times

INDEX

A note about the index: The pages referenced in this index refer to the page numbers in the print edition. Clicking on a page number will take you to the ebook location that corresponds to the beginning of that page in the print edition. For a comprehensive list of locations of any word or phrase, use your reading system’s search function.

Aberdeen, George Hamilton Gordon, 4th Earl of, 287

Acropolis (Athens), 28

Adam, Robert, 140

Adams, Abigail, 199, 203

Adams, John: on Declaration of Independence, 1, 186, 189; and Jefferson’s lack of interest in history, 192; in Paris, 199; Callender criticizes, 210, 217

Adams, William Howard: The Paris Years of Thomas Jefferson, 200

Adelphi, London, 140

adultery: Jesus on, 55–6

Aegina, 18

Afghan War, Third (1919), 385

African National Congress, 360

Aga Khan, Aga Sultan Sir Mohammed Shah, 374, 384

Alcmaeonids (Athenian clan), 14, 28–30, 32

Alexander the Great, 34, 41

Alexander I, Czar of Russia, 226

Alfred the Great, King of Wessex, 74

Ali, Muhammad and Shaukat, 396–7

alienation: Marx on, 273, 328–9, 331

Allenby, General Edmund Henry Hynman, 1st Viscount, 385

Ambedkar, B. R., 371

Ambler, Betsy, 191

America: Adam Smith on future of, 145; Burke defends independence claims, 154, 158–60, 173; see also United States of America

American Colonization Society, 209

American War of Independence (1775–83), 189

Amis, Sir Kingsley, 326

Amphipolis, 42

Amritsar: massacre (1919), 370

Ananias, 70

anatomical dissection, 219–20

Anaxagoras, 15, 40–1, 178

Anderson, Perry, 377–8; Passages from Antiquity to Feudalism, 80

Anet, Claude, 91

Annenkov, Pavel, 310

Anti-Jacobin (journal), 280

Antipater of Thessalonica, 320

apartheid, 366, 381

Aquinas, St Thomas, 69, 75

Arab Spring, 381

Arberry, Arthur, 401

archons (Athens), 48

Arcot, Nawab of, 171

Arden, Jane, 249

Areopagus (Athens), 18, 24, 48

Argyll, Archibald Campbell, 3rd Duke of (earlier Earl of Ilay), 139

Aristides the Just, 38, 178

Aristotle: on successful city, 31; on growth of democracy in Athens, 32–5; criticizes Sparta, 33–4; on ostracism, 37; exile and death, 41; on citizenship, 43; and Cleisthenes’ achievements, 47; on popular participation in government, 47; on professional politicians, 48; disparages commerce, 75–6; ...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Dedication
• Epigraph
• Introduction: The fatal blandishing
• I Pericles (495 BC–429 BC) and the invention of democracy
• II Jesus (7/2 BC–AD 30/33) and the brotherhood of man
• III Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712–78) and the self supreme
• IV Adam Smith (1723–90) and the invisible hand
• V Edmund Burke (1729–97) and the stickiness of society
• VI Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826) and the endless revolution
• VII Jeremy Bentham (1748–1832) and the management of happiness
• VIII Mary Wollstonecraft (1759–97) and the rights of woman – and men too
• IX Giuseppe Mazzini (1805–72) and the religion of nationhood
• X Karl Marx (1818–83) and the death of capitalism
• XI Mohandas Gandhi (1869–1948) and the non-violent path
• XII Muhammad Iqbal (1877–1938) and the dream of Islam
• Finale: In praise of trade-off
• List of Illustrations
• Acknowledgements
• Select Bibliography
• Index
• Copyright