Chapter 1. Aristocrat as Citizen, Citizen as Aristocrat: Plutarch's Spartan, Rousseau's General Will, and Tocqueville's Americans

Chapter 2. Representation, Consent and the Aristocratic Ethos: Two Late Medieval Theories

Chapter 3. Consent of the Governed, Natural Law, and Religious Toleration in the Pre-Liberal Tradition

Chapter 4. Thomas Elyot and Self-Government - Why the Rulers of Realms Must also Rule Themselves

Part Two: Modern Aristocratic Voices

Chapter 5. Vico and the Aristocratic Origin of Political Order

Chapter 6. Newman's Fearful Gentleman: Discourse Eight of The Idea of a University

Chapter 7. W.H. Riehl's Cure for Modernity: A Defense of National, Regional, and Social Differentiation

Chapter 8. Henry Adams: An Aristocrat Out of Time

Chapter 9. Against the Tarantulas: Nietzsche on Aristocracy

Chapter 10. Irving Babbitt on Democracy and Leadership

Chapter 11. Oswald Spengler, Aristocratic Virtues, Democracy, and the Decline and Death Of The West

Chapter 12. Julius Evola's Aristocratic Critique of Machiavellianism

Chapter 13. Authority, Hierarchy, and the Social Bond in the Aristocratic Mind of Robert Nisbet

Much of classical political thought ascribed paramount importance to elite formation: what institutions and traditions would cultivate the best qualities in the ruling class, and curb their exorbitances. This volume consists of essays by political theorists who explore these questions in the works of aristocratic thinkers, both ancient and modern.

Richard Avramenko is director of the Arizona State University School of Civic and Economic Thought and Leadership.

Ethan Alexander-Davey is associate professor of political science at Campbell University.