Democracy Under Threat

‘At a time when authoritarianism is resurgent and democracy is under threat globally, this timely book shines a light on a critical but underappreciated driver
of democratization: ordinary citizens.’
—Maria J. Stephan, Director, Program on Nonviolent Action, USIP, USA.

One of the most important filmmakers to emerge from Japan's cinematic golden age, Masaki Kobayashi is best remembered today for his 1959 epic The Human Condition, but that is just one of the blistering films he made in a career dedicated to criticizing his country's rigid social and political orders. He first found his voice-rebellious, angry, engaged-in the fifties, following his life-altering experiences as a soldier in World War II. Includes "The Thick-Walled Room," "I Will Buy You," "Black River" and "The Inheritance."

We, in the West in general, and the United States in particular, have witnessed over the last twenty years a slow erosion of our civilizational self-confidence.

An immersive examination of why the age of democratic revolutions was also a time of hero worship and strongmen