Friendship and Politics

John von Heyking is associate professor of political science at the University of Lethbridge. He is the author and co-editor of a number of books, including Augustine and Politics as Longing in the World.Richard Avramenko is assistant professor of political science at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

"The 12 essays in this volume address the relationship between friendship and political life. . . . Joshua Mitchell on Tocqueville, Richard Avramenko on Nietzsche, and Jurgen Gebhardt on the importance of trust in any legitimate public order round out this interesting collection on a topic lately 'relegated to the backbenches of political philosophy.'" —Choice"Contemporary political theory assumes that friendship is a private affair, a human relationship that should be quarantined from explorations of politics. The essays in this volume—uniformly excellent, by our best political thinkers—put those assumptions to the test. Together, the essays point to a conception of politics that necessarily includes the highest and best form of human companionship as a necessary means, and even worthwhile end, of the good life. They consider friendship to be a good and at times a challenge that should properly be the concern of political thought and political action. This is an indispensable volume on the inescapable relationship between friendship and politics." —Patrick J. Deneen, Georgetown University"This is an outstanding anthology in every respect. Friendship and Politics brings into focus a topic that lies at the heart of the political, even while it has not always garnered the attention it deserves. Friendship, the contributors demonstrate, is an indispensable concept for the analysis of the bonds of political association. The case is most convincingly made by drawing upon the analyses of the greatest thinkers within the history of political thought." —David Walsh, Catholic University of America