Michael Shapiro writes in a relatively new genre of political thought, one that displays a 'postmodern' willingness to discuss literary and cinematic examples alongside canonical texts of political theory, and one that is 'polemical' in the best sense of the term: not seeking to censure or repudiate other views but to pursue an open-ended engagement with political dramas of our time ... Within the terms of this new genre, the book is very successful. -- Professor Paul Patton Michael Shapiro writes in a relatively new genre of political thought, one that displays a 'postmodern' willingness to discuss literary and cinematic examples alongside canonical texts of political theory, and one that is 'polemical' in the best sense of the term: not seeking to censure or repudiate other views but to pursue an open-ended engagement with political dramas of our time ... Within the terms of this new genre, the book is very successful.