If Men Were Angels: James Madison and the Heartless Empire of Reason

by Richard K. Matthews

Book Overview

"What is government itself but the greatest of all reflections on human nature? If men were angels, no government would be necessary."

The ever wary James Madison viewed his fellow citizens as anything but angelic. In this radically new interpretation, Richard Matthews portrays a much less optimistic (and yet more liberal) Madison than we've seen before. Neither civic humanist nor democrat, this Madison is a distrusting, calculating, and pragmatic...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0700606432
• ISBN13: 9780700606436
• Release Date: January 1995
• Publisher: University Press of Kansas
• Length: 320 Pages
• Weight: 1.05 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.2" x 6.4" x 9.3"