Socrates on Trial: Philosophy Against the State: Truth, Democracy, and the Death of Athens' Greatest Questioner

In 399 BCE, Athens put one of its own citizens to death—not for treason or violence, but for asking too many questions. Socrates, the man who believed that "the unexamined life is not worth living," became the first philosopher tried and executed by a democracy in defense of itself. His trial marks one of the most enduring confrontations between free thought and political authority.

This book reconstructs the world behind that moment: a city still reeling from war, humiliation, and political...