Ronald Glassman, PhD, is a sociologist. He has taught at NYU, Connecticut College, the City University of New York, and William Paterson University. Professor Glassman is a specialist in historical sociology and has authored many books on democracy, including The Origins of Democracy in Tribes, City-States and Nation-States (2 vols.); The Middle Class and Democracy in Socio-Historical Perspective; The New Middle Class and Democracy in Global Perspective; Caring Capitalism; China in Transition: Communism, Capitalism, Democracy; Democracy and Equality; with William Swatos, Jr., Charisma, History, and Social Structure; and other books. Glassman teaches at NYU in the Liberal Studies Program and history courses at NYUSPS in the Center for Applied Liberal Arts.

• Introduction: Mixed Messages in the Twenty-first Century.- Part I. Democracy as a Uniquely Human Political Process.- Chapter 1. Humans in the Scientific State of Nature: The Emergence of the Democratic Discussion Council.- Chapter 2. Democracy and Despotism in Tribal Society: The Clan Council, The Tribal Assembly, The War Chief, The Shaman.- Chapter 3. City-State Democracy in Sumer, Syria, and Canaan-Phoenicia: The Council of City Fathers and the Citizens Assembly.- Chapter 4. Full Fledged Democracy in the City-States of Ancient Greece: Majority Rule at the Citizens Assembly; Constitutional Law; Jury Trials; the Rational-Scientific World-View Emerges.- Chapter 5. The Kingly-Bureaucratic State and the Integration of Large Political Areas: The Divine Kingship Makes Democracy Inconceivable.- Chapter 6. Democracy Revived in the City-States of Renaissance Italy: Oligarchy Overrides Democracy.- Chapter 7. The Northern European City-States Unite in Leagues: Representative Democracy Becomes Institutionalized in Switzerland, The Netherlands, and England.- Chapter 8. The Rational-Scientific World-View After the Protestant Reformation: Science and Legal-Rational Authority.- Part II. Democracy in the Modern World.- Chapter 9. Free Market Capitalism Undergirds City-States and Nation-State Democracy:  Contract Law Reinforces Legal Authority.- Chapter 10. Four Ways Free Market Capitalism Reinforces Legal-Rational Democracy.- Chapter 11. Case Studies of Socio-Political Change in Developing Nations: India, China, Venezuela, Egypt, Syria, Iraq, Iran, and Spain.- Chapter 12. The Resurgence of Fascism in the Mid-Twenty First Century.- Part III. The Future of Democracy.- Chapter 13. The Hope for Democracy in the Near Future: Global Capitalism, Global Science, and the Global New Middle Class.- Chapter 14. High Technology, Mass Media as Strengthening Democracy: Immediacy and Community in the Blogosphere – Extremism Plus Increased Citizens Involvement.- Chapter 15. High Technology Totalitarianism: The Ultimate Dystopia; Manufactured Charisma in the Cyber World.- Chapter 16. Utopian Visions: Good and Bad Effects on Actual History.- Chapter 17. Education for Democracy in the Twenty-First Century: British Classical Education has a Positive Influence on Developing Nations; Civics Education at the High School (Gymnasia) Level.- Chapter 18. Climate Change as a Challenge to the Legitimacy of Advanced Capitalist Democracies.- Chapter 19. Violence vs. Words: Despotism vs. Democracy.- Chapter 20. A Note on the Great Thinkers Whose Writings on Democracy Influence This Work.