Courage

Cover

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Title Page, Copyright

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Contents

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pp. vii-ix

Preface

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pp. xi-xiii

This book was twice born in pain. The original concept came to me as I tried to make sense of the September 11, 2001, attacks. On a bus, stuck in traffic on the Key Bridge in Washington, D.C., I watched the first plumes...

1. (Re)Introducing Courage

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pp. 1-22

Man is nothing other than what he makes of himself, and nothing is more difficult to make than a courageous man. It is for precisely this reason that courage, as a topic of serious political and social debate, is not popular...

2. Martial Courage and Honor

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pp. 23-81

Any discussion of courage must begin with a discussion of men in battle—with martial courage. From time immemorial, this is when courage comes most vividly to the fore. It is where men prove their manly worth and cowards...

3. Political Courage and Justice

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pp. 83-138

Thus far courage has been explored in the context of war and battle. This exploration reveals a deep relationship between a warrior’s courage and the love of honor. It also brings to light something deeper: in making himself...

4. Moral Courage and Autonomy

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pp. 139-189

After the battle at Thermopylae an inscription was left for the fallen: “Go, stranger, and tell the Spartans that we lay here in obedience to their orders.”¹ The inscription is both awe-inspiring and revolting. That the Three Hundred...

5. Economic Courage and Wealth

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pp. 191-234

Thus far we have discussed two general alternatives to the excessive manliness of the Homeric tradition—and of honor cultures more broadly. In the Athenian context we found courage invoked not merely for the sake of honor...

6. The Aftermath

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pp. 235-255

In the beginning, it was said that man is nothing other than what he makes of himself and that nothing is more difficult to make than a courageous man. We have now marched through nearly two and a half millennia of human beings doing precisely...

Notes

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pp. 257-319

Bibliography

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pp. 321-351

Index

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pp. 353-361