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Does democracy die in darkness, as the saying suggests? \\nThis book reveals that modern democracy was born in \\nsecrecy, despite the widespread conviction that \\ntransparency was its very essence.\\nIn the years preceding the American and French \\nrevolutions, state secrecy came to be seen as despotic\\u2014an instrument of monarchy. But as revolutionaries sought to fashion representative government, they faced a dilemma. \\nIn a context where gaining public trust seemed to demand transparency, was secrecy ever legitimate? Whether in Philadelphia or Paris, establishing popular sovereignty required navigating between an ideological imperative to eradicate secrets from the state and a practical need to limit transparency in government. \\nUnveiling modern democracy\\u2019s surprisingly shadowy \\norigins, Carter reshapes our understanding of how \\ngovernment by and for the people emerged during the \\nAge of Revolutions.

\\nKATLYN MARIE CARTER is assistant professor of history at the University of Notre Dame. She lives in \\nSouth Bend, IN.

For more info on the book click HERE\\n\\n\\n\\n\\n