The award is given to a book “that broadens the horizons of contemporary political science by engaging issues of philosophical significance in political life through any of a variety of approaches in the social sciences and humanities."
Founded in 1903, the American Political Science Association is the leading professional organization for the study of political science and serves more than 11,000 members in more than 100 countries.
Frank’s research seeks resources in the historians, poets, and philosophers of Ancient Greece for contemporary democratic theory and practice.
“Poetic Justice” plumbs the analogy in Plato’s dialogues between becoming literate and becoming knowledgeable. Focusing on the Republic’s bottom-up account of learning to read, Frank’s book challenges the view that the Republic endorses fixed hierarchies in knowledge and politics. Frank argues that Plato’s most influential dialogue instead prompts citizens to challenge all claims to authority, even by philosophers, and offers an education in ethical and political self-governance.
Frank is also the author of “A Democracy of Distinction.”
