How long does it take to read Democracy May Not Exist, but We'll Miss It When It's Gone?
Astra Taylor
Democracy May Not Exist, but We'll Miss It When It's Gone by Astra Taylor takes about 6 hours 45 minutes to read at 250 words a minute.
About 6 hours 45 minutes
A weekend read
First published 2019. 368 pages, about 101,200 words.
14 days at 30 minutes a day
Estimate based on 275 words per page.
At other speeds
| Slow, 150 words a minute | 11 hours 15 minutes |
| Average, 250 words a minute | 6 hours 45 minutes |
| Fast, 400 words a minute | 4 hours 13 minutes |
The page count is the median across 4 editions, so your copy may differ. How we calculate.
About the book
"What is democracy, really? What do we mean when we use the term? And can it ever truly exist? Astra Taylor, hailed as a 'New Civil Rights Leader' by the Los Angeles Times, provides surprising answers. There is no shortage of democracy, at least in name, yet it is in crisis everywhere we look. From a cabal of plutocrats in the White House to gerrymandering and dark-money campaign contributions, it is clear that the principle of government by and for the people is not living up to its promise. The problems lie deeper than any one election cycle. As Astra Taylor demonstrates, real democracy--fully inclusive and completely egalitarian--has in fact never existed. In a tone that is both philosophical and anecdotal, weaving together history, theory, the stories of individuals, and interviews with former prime ministers and such leading thinkers as Cornel West and Wendy Brown, Taylor invites us to reexamine the term. Is democracy a means or an end, a process or a set of desired outcomes? What if those outcomes, whatever they may be--peace, prosperity, equality, liberty, an engaged citizenry--can be achieved by nondemocratic means? In what areas of life should democratic principles apply? If democracy means rule by the people, what does it mean to rule and who counts as the people? Democracy's inherent paradoxes often go unnamed and unrecognized. Exploring such questions, [this book] offers a better understanding of what is possible, why democracy is so hard to realize, and why it remains worth striving for."--Dust jacket.
Subjects: Democracy, Political science, philosophy, Philosophy, Political science
