The End of Kings A History of Republics and Republicans

Written in clear, lively prose, The End of Kings traces the history of republican governments and the key figures that are united by the simple republican maxim: No man shall rule alone. Breathtaking in its scope, Everdell's book moves from the Hebrew Bible, Solon's Athens and Brutus's Rome to the impeachment trial of Andrew Johnson and the Watergate proceedings during which Nixon resigned. Along the way, he carefully builds a definition of "republic" which distinguishes democratic republics from aristocratic ones for both history and political science. In a new foreword, Everdell addresses the impeachment trial of President Clinton and argues that impeachment was never meant to punish private crimes. Ultimately, Everdell's brilliant analysis helps us understand how examining the past can shed light on the present.

"[An] energetic, aphoristic, wide-ranging book."--Marcus Cunliffe, Washington Post Book World

"Ambitious in conception and presented in a clear and sprightly prose. . . . [This] excellent study . . . is the best statement of the republican faith since Alphonse Aulard's essays almost a century ago." --Choice

"A book which ought to be in the hand of every American who agrees with Benjamin Franklin that the Founding Fathers gave us a Republic and hoped that we would be able to keep it."-Sam J. Ervin, Jr.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Preface to the Second Edition
Acknowledgments
1. Introduction: What a Republic Is and How It Was Mislaid in America
2. Samuel and Solon: The Origins of the Republic in Tribalism
3. From Brutus to Brutus: The Rise and Fall of Rome
4. William Tell: The Failure of Kings in Switzerland
5. Niccolò Machiavelli: The Florentine Commune
6. John Calvin: A Republican Church
7. John Milton: A Commonwealth of Saints
8. John Adams and Benjamin Franklin: A Republican Union
9. Maximilien Robespierre: The Democratic Republic
10. Thaddeus Stevens: The Legacy of the America Whigs
11. Léon Gambetta and the Troisième: The Parliamentary Republic
12. Gustav Noske: The Reluctant Republic of Weimar
13. Five Senators: The Republic Versus Its Presidents
14. Conclusion: Squaring the Circles of Polybios
Bibliographical Essays and Notes
Bibliographical Essay for the Second Edition
Index