{"title":"Ferdinand Mount","description":"\u003cp\u003eFerdinand Mount’s works traverse the landscape of \u003cstrong\u003epolitics, history, and fiction\u003c\/strong\u003e with a keen eye and sharp wit. Readers can expect insightful explorations of political life, nuanced character studies, and reflections on societal change woven through both his historical and fictional narratives.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eFrom incisive commentaries in \u003cem\u003eBig Caesars and Little Caesars\u003c\/em\u003e to the compelling storytelling found in \u003cem\u003eSoft\u003c\/em\u003e and \u003cem\u003eThe Pentecost Papers\u003c\/em\u003e, Mount’s writing offers a thoughtful blend of observation and imagination, inviting readers to engage with the intersections of power, morality, and human nature.\u003c\/p\u003e","products":[{"product_id":"big-caesars-and-little-caesars","title":"Big Caesars and Little Caesars","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003ci\u003eBig Caesars and Little Caesars\u003c\/i\u003e by Ferdinand Mount is an enlightening and provocative examination of the allure and peril of authoritarian leadership throughout history. From the grand ambitions of Julius Caesar to the modern idiosyncrasies of political figures like Donald Trump and Boris Johnson, this book delves deeply into the mechanisms and motivations that drive strongmen to seize control and the inevitable consequences of their actions.\n\nA WATERSTONES BOOK OF THE YEAR\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eWho said that dictatorship was dead? The world today is full of Strong Men and their imitators. Caesarism is alive and well. Yet in modern times, it’s become a strangely neglected subject. Ferdinand Mount opens up a fascinating exploration of how and why Caesars seize power and why they fall.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cblockquote\u003e\"Fast paced and impassioned\" -- Sunday Telegraph\u003c\/blockquote\u003e\n\u003cblockquote\u003e\"Wonderfully wry\" -- The Guardian\u003c\/blockquote\u003e\n\u003cblockquote\u003e\"...a delight\" -- Sunday Times\u003c\/blockquote\u003e\n\u003cblockquote\u003e\"Delicious work, beautifully and acerbically written\" -- Wall Street Journal\u003c\/blockquote\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThere is a comforting illusion shared by historians and political commentators, from Fukuyama back to Macaulay, Mill, and Marx, that history progresses in a nice straight line towards liberal democracy or socialism, despite the odd hiccup.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eIn reality, every democracy, however sophisticated or stable it may look, has been attacked or actually destroyed by a would-be Caesar, from Ancient Greece to the present day. Marx was wrong. This Caesarism is not an absurd throwback, it is an ever-present danger.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThere are Big Caesars who set out to achieve total social control and Little Caesars who merely want to run an agreeable kleptocracy without opposition: from Julius Caesar and Oliver Cromwell through Napoleon and Bolivar, to Mussolini, Salazar, De Gaulle and Trump. The saga of Boris Johnson and Brexit frequently crops up in the author's narrative as a vivid, if Lilliputian, instance of the same phenomenon.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eMount's work is both a historical and contemporary analysis, canvassing a wide range of would-be Caesars who have left their mark on history. He provides a detailed account of the ambitious forces behind these figures, revealing a timeless yearning for power that persists across centuries and continents. His narrative seamlessly integrates the ancient with the modern, demonstrating that the spectre of Caesarism is a perpetual threat to democratic institutions.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThe final part of \u003ci\u003eBig Caesars and Little Caesars\u003c\/i\u003e describes how and why would-be Caesars come to grief, from the Gunpowder Plot to Trump’s march on the Capitol and the ejection of Boris Johnson by his own MPs. Mount concludes with a defence of the grubby glories of parliamentary politics and a thought-provoking roadmap of the way back to constitutional government.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThis book is an essential read for anyone interested in political science, history, or the modern global political landscape. Ferdinand Mount's writing is a deft blend of insightful critique, historical narrative, and wry commentary, making \u003ci\u003eBig Caesars and Little Caesars\u003c\/i\u003e a compelling and informative read that resonates with the political realities of today.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Allen \u0026 Unwin","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":45706133799148,"sku":"9781399409728","price":29.99,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/9781399409728.jpg?v=1725883658"},{"product_id":"making-nice-by-ferdinand-mount-9781472992895","title":"Making Nice","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cb\u003eThe deliciously sharp new novel from Ferdinand Mount, author of the \u003ci\u003eSunday Times\u003c\/i\u003e Book of the Year \u003ci\u003eKiss Myself Goodbye\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eFerdinand Mount’s stinging satire plunges into the dubious world of London PR firms, the back rooms of Westminster, and the campaign trail in Africa and America. We follow the hapless Dickie Pentecost, a redundant diplomatic correspondent for a foundering national newspaper, together with his stern oncologist wife, Jane, and their daughters Flo, an aspiring ballerina, and the quizzical teenager Lucy.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThe whole family finds themselves entangled in an ever more alarming series of events revolving around the elusive Ethel (full name Ethelbert), the dynamic founder of the soaring public relations agency \u003ci\u003eMaking Nice\u003c\/i\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eWith echoes of Evelyn Waugh and \u003ci\u003eThe Thick of It\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eMaking Nice\u003c\/i\u003e is a masterly take on the madness of contemporary society and the limitless human capacity for self-deception.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Allen \u0026 Unwin","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46712421253356,"sku":"9781472992895","price":22.99,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/12066473482712.jpg?v=1754294538"},{"product_id":"the-pentecost-papers-by-ferdinand-mount-9781526682727","title":"The Pentecost Papers","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eGloriously inventive, wonderfully entertaining, wickedly knowing . . . Read it and revel\u003c\/b\u003e — JOHN BANVILLE\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eThe unsung hero of his generation of novelists . . . Astute, funny and heartbreaking\u003c\/b\u003e — TANYA GOLD\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eCorruption, destruction, danger and murder: Welcome to the murky world of the super-rich.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eTimothy ‘Timbo’ Smith, part-time healer and self-styled security analyst, travels down the \u003cb\u003edark canyons of global capitalism\u003c\/b\u003e, from short-selling scams in the City to the depleted rainforests of Brazil.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eHis accomplices in \u003cb\u003ethis irresistible safari through the late modern world\u003c\/b\u003e are two reformed alcoholics, the lovely and brilliant Lee ‘Lethal’ Thorold, and her husband Professor Luke Deverill, a lecherous Oxford philosopher and caustic computer wizard. Their \u003cb\u003emisadventures\u003c\/b\u003e are followed at a bewildered distance by the played-out diplomatic correspondent Dickie Pentecost, who tags along mostly because Timbo is the only man who can cure his agonising back and is always one step behind \u003cb\u003ethe Machiavellian actions\u003c\/b\u003e of those who precede him.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eFrom the author of the searing satire, \u003ci\u003eMaking Nice\u003c\/i\u003e, comes his \u003cb\u003emost entertaining, perceptive and unflinching novel yet\u003c\/b\u003e, lifting the veil on the \u003cb\u003eseedy realities of modern life\u003c\/b\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Allen \u0026 Unwin","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46986584097004,"sku":"9781526682727","price":48.99,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/15334783482731.jpg?v=1762998717"},{"product_id":"soft-by-ferdinand-mount-9781399421881","title":"Soft","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e[An] erudite, immensely entertaining book...Mount makes for a delightful guide\u003c\/strong\u003e — Literary Review\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eFrom troubadours to Twitter: a thousand years of feelings, fads and furious sentiment, from renowned essayist Ferdinand Mount.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eWhatever we think we feel, you can be sure that the past has had a part to play in it. In \u003cem\u003eSoft\u003c\/em\u003e, Ferdinand Mount tells the millennium-long history of emotion through delightful snapshots, often mischievous storytelling and a masterly command of history.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eMount explores the shifting importance societies have placed on empathy for the misfortunes of others. Each seismic moment, Mount argues, from the French Revolution to Civil Rights, has had a corresponding sentimental revolution that has fuelled great political turning points and come to define human civilization.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eBut no one wants to be accused of being sentimental; its detractors call it soppy, effeminate and populist — the stuff of soap operas and pop songs. The Reformation tried to stamp out excessive emotion, the Victorians resolutely maintained their stiff upper lips and no one loathed sentimentality more than the modernists — and yet, today, Mount argues it is not the stoics who are ruling the roost: we are living in an age of emotion.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eFrom the Occitan poets of the 12th century to Paul McCartney’s songs, and modern debates around woke, this is a witty insight into the story of emotions and the way they have swayed human history.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Allen \u0026 Unwin","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47603152453868,"sku":"9781399421881","price":48.99,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/9781399421881-soft.jpg?v=1778056306"},{"product_id":"the-pentecost-papers-by-ferdinand-mount-9781526682772","title":"The Pentecost Papers","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"book-description\"\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eGloriously inventive, wonderfully entertaining, wickedly knowing . . . Read it and revel\u003c\/strong\u003e JOHN BANVILLE\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThe unsung hero of his generation of novelists . . . Astute, funny and heartbreaking\u003c\/strong\u003e TANYA GOLD\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eCorruption, destruction, danger and murder: Welcome to the murky world of the super-rich.\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eTimothy ‘Timbo’ Smith, part-time healer and self-styled security analyst, travels down the \u003cstrong\u003edark canyons of global capitalism\u003c\/strong\u003e, from short-selling scams in the City to the depleted rainforests of Brazil.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eHis accomplices in \u003cstrong\u003ethis irresistible safari through the late modern world\u003c\/strong\u003e are two reformed alcoholics, the lovely and brilliant Lee ‘Lethal’ Thorold, and her husband Professor Luke Deverill, lecherous Oxford philosopher and caustic computer wizard. Their \u003cstrong\u003emisadventures\u003c\/strong\u003e are followed at a bewildered distance by the played-out diplomatic correspondent Dickie Pentecost, who tags along mostly because Timbo is the only man who can cure his agonising back and is always one step behind \u003cstrong\u003ethe Machiavellian actions\u003c\/strong\u003e of those who precede him.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eFrom the author of the searing satire, \u003ci\u003eMaking Nice\u003c\/i\u003e, comes his \u003cstrong\u003emost entertaining, perceptive and unflinching novel yet\u003c\/strong\u003e, lifting the veil on the \u003cstrong\u003eseedy realities of modern life\u003c\/strong\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Allen \u0026 Unwin Aotearoa New Zealand","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48244651819244,"sku":"9781526682772","price":24.99,"currency_code":"NZD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0705\/7784\/8556\/files\/b5c07c97b9bd45fe557f5796dc7613cc.jpg?v=1788122503"}],"url":"https:\/\/bookhero.live\/collections\/ferdinand-mount.oembed","provider":"Book Hero","version":"1.0","type":"link"}