Pluralist democracy has become the only respectable political practice to survive the end of the twentieth century. But at the same time, or so the central argument of Zolo's study can be summarized, the intellectual foundations of democratic theory seem shakier than ever. After performing a skillful act of demolition on the legitimating arguments of both classical and neo-classical democratic theory, the author concludes his own revision of democratic revisionism with views that are surprisingly reminiscent of the founding fathers of modern political theory, such as Machiavelli and Hobbes. His fascinating and highly provocative treatise on modern politics, in which Zolo attributes special significance to the media of mass communication, leaves the reader with a sense of 'democratic melancholy as well as the challenge to find an intellectually respectable way out of the ruins of democratic theory. This is a heave dose of what might be termed Italo-realism in political theory as serious in its intellectual effort as it is in its devastating consequences for mainstream democratic folklore. --Claus Offe