'Praise for How Democracy Ends: Presented in pellucid prose free of the jargon of academic political science, How Democracy Ends is a strikingly readable and richly learned contribution to understanding the world today . surely one of the most luminously intelligent books on politics to have been published for many years.' - John Gray 'Bracingly intelligent . a wonderful read' - Mark Mazower 'Full of intriguing new lines of thought' - Gideon Rachman 'Clear-headed, compact and timely' - Irish Times 'Refreshingly free of received and rehearsed wisdoms, Runciman doesn't tiptoe around sacred cows and invites us to take part in that most adult way of thinking: to examine contradictory ideas in tandem and ponder what the dissonance amounts to. [H]e argues lucidly, persuasively, even exhilaratingly at times. The nightly news will never appear exactly the same again' - Australian.