Short Stories and Political Philosophy: Power, Prose, and Persuasion explores the relationship between fictional short stories and the classic works of political philosophy. This edited volume addresses the innovative ways that short stories grapple with the same complex political and moral questions, concerns, and problems studied in the fields of political philosophy and ethics. The volume is designed to highlight the ways in which short stories may be used as an access point for the challenging works of political philosophy encountered in higher education. Each chapter analyzes a single story through the lens of thinkers ranging from Plato and Aristotle to Max Weber and Hannah Arendt. The contributors to this volume do not adhere to a single theme or intellectual tradition. Rather, this volume is a celebration of the intellectual and literary diversity available to students and teachers of political philosophy. It is a resource for scholars as well as educators who seek to incorporate short stories into their teaching practice.

Erin A. Dolgoy is assistant professor of political science at Rhodes College.



Kimberly Hurd Hale is assistant professor of politics at Coastal Carolina University.



Bruce Peabody is professor of political science at Fairleigh Dickinson University.

Chapter One: Introduction - Bruce Peabody, Kimberly Hurd Hale, and Erin A. Dolgoy

Chapter Two: Big Data for the Good Life: Ken Lius The Perfect Match - Erin A. Dolgoy

Chapter Three: Paolo Bacigalupis Pop Squad and the Examined Life Worth Living - Kimberly Hurd Hale

Chapter Four: All the Worlds a Cage: Franz Kafka, A Hunger Artist - Timothy McCranor and Steven Michels

Chapter Five: Conflicting Moral Goods: William Faulkners Barn Burning - Mary P. Nichols

Chapter Six: From the Iron Cage to the Waters of Babylon: Rationalization and Renewal in a Weberian World - Bruce Peabody

Chapter Seven: The Terrible Justice of Reality: The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas and

the Dilemmas of Political Responsibility - Michael Christopher Sardo

Chapter Eight: Kinship, Community, and the Bureaucratic State: A Study of Wendell Berrys

Fidelity - Drew Kennedy Thompson

Chapter Nine: The Incarnation of My Native Land: Clover Adams in Henry James

Pandora - Natalie Fuehrer Taylor

Chapter Ten: Jumping at Our Reflection: American Dystopia and Reaction in Shirley Jacksons

The Lottery - Abram Trosky

Chapter Eleven: Conclusion - Kimberly Hurd Hale, Bruce Peabody, and Erin A. Dolgoy