The SSL ‘Book of the Month’ feature highlights a book in our collection that has been chosen by one of our Subject Consultants. This may be a recent addition to our stock or an existing item that we would like to share with you.
November’s Book of the Month has been selected by Jo Gardner, Bodleian Social Science Librarian and Subject Consultant for Politics and International Relations.
Democracy and the politics of silence
Mónica Brito Vieira
Pennsylvania State University Press, 2025
It was chosen because the author investigates the largely overlooked role of silence in democratic politics.
Book Overview
The author challenges the long-standing tradition of political theory as constituted by speech, drawing on a wide range of sources and disciplines. She provides a nuanced, and insightful account of political and democratic life that explores the spaces for both speech and silence.
Reviews
“An audacious and curious thinker, Brito Vieira goes off the beaten track and combines exemplary scholarship with refreshing insights into the unexpected political mechanics of silence.”
Mihaela Mihai, author of Political Memory and the Aesthetics of Care: The Art of Complicity and Resistance
“This illuminating contribution to the performative and normative aspects of silence will grace the bourgeoning sphere of silence studies and be required reading for political theorists, historians, cultural sociologists, and ethicists intent on enriching their fields of scholarship.”
Michael Freeden, author of Ideology Studies: New Advances and Interpretations
How can I access it?
We have one lending copy of this book, which is located on our New Books Display Area (around the corner from our Issue Desk). Its shelfmark is JC423.BRI 2025.
What would your SSL Book of the Month be? Do you have a favourite book in our collection? If so, we would love to know what it is. Add a comment below or email us.