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Men on Horseback: The Power of Charisma in the Age of Revolution
An immersive examination of why the age of democratic revolutions was also a time of hero worship and strongmen
In Men on Horseback, the Princeton University historian David A. Bell offers a dramatic new interpretation of modern politics, arguing that the history of democracy is inextricable from the history of charisma, its shadow self.
Bell begins with Corsica’s Pasquale Paoli, an icon of republican virtue whose exploits were once renowned throughout the Atlantic World. Paoli would become a signal influence in both George Washington’s America and Napoleon Bonaparte’s France. In turn, Bonaparte would exalt Washington even as he fashioned an entirely different form of leadership. In the same period, Toussaint Louverture sought to make French Revolutionary ideals of freedom and equality a reality for the formerly enslaved people of what would become Haiti, only to be betrayed by Napoleon himself. Simon Bolivar witnessed the coronation of Napoleon and later sought refuge in newly independent Haiti as he fought to liberate Latin America from Spanish rule. Tracing these stories and their interconnections, Bell weaves a spellbinding tale of power and its ability to mesmerize.
Ultimately, Bell tells the crucial and neglected story of how political leadership was reinvented for a revolutionary world that wanted to do without kings and queens. If leaders no longer rule by divine right, what underlies their authority? Military valor? The consent of the people? Their own Godlike qualities? Bell’s subjects all struggled with this question, learning from each other’s example as they did so. They were men on horseback who sought to be men of the people—as Bell shows, modern democracy, militarism, and the cult of the strongman all emerged together.
Today, with democracy’s appeal and durability under threat around the world, Bell’s account of its dark twin is timely and revelatory. For all its dangers, charisma cannot be dispensed with; in the end, Bell offers a stirring injunction to reimagine it as an animating force for good in the politics of our time.
In Men on Horseback, the Princeton University historian David A. Bell offers a dramatic new interpretation of modern politics, arguing that the history of democracy is inextricable from the history of charisma, its shadow self.
Bell begins with Corsica’s Pasquale Paoli, an icon of republican virtue whose exploits were once renowned throughout the Atlantic World. Paoli would become a signal influence in both George Washington’s America and Napoleon Bonaparte’s France. In turn, Bonaparte would exalt Washington even as he fashioned an entirely different form of leadership. In the same period, Toussaint Louverture sought to make French Revolutionary ideals of freedom and equality a reality for the formerly enslaved people of what would become Haiti, only to be betrayed by Napoleon himself. Simon Bolivar witnessed the coronation of Napoleon and later sought refuge in newly independent Haiti as he fought to liberate Latin America from Spanish rule. Tracing these stories and their interconnections, Bell weaves a spellbinding tale of power and its ability to mesmerize.
Ultimately, Bell tells the crucial and neglected story of how political leadership was reinvented for a revolutionary world that wanted to do without kings and queens. If leaders no longer rule by divine right, what underlies their authority? Military valor? The consent of the people? Their own Godlike qualities? Bell’s subjects all struggled with this question, learning from each other’s example as they did so. They were men on horseback who sought to be men of the people—as Bell shows, modern democracy, militarism, and the cult of the strongman all emerged together.
Today, with democracy’s appeal and durability under threat around the world, Bell’s account of its dark twin is timely and revelatory. For all its dangers, charisma cannot be dispensed with; in the end, Bell offers a stirring injunction to reimagine it as an animating force for good in the politics of our time.
352 pages, Hardcover
Published July 28, 2020
27 people are currently reading
400 people want to read
About the author
David A. Bell
12 books17 followersLibrarians note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
David A. Bell is the Sidney and Ruth Lapidus Professor in the Era of North Atlantic Revolutions at Princeton University and the author of several previous books, among them The First Total War and Shadows of Revolution.
David A. Bell is the Sidney and Ruth Lapidus Professor in the Era of North Atlantic Revolutions at Princeton University and the author of several previous books, among them The First Total War and Shadows of Revolution.
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
November 3, 2021
David A. Bell is a really great writer, unlike some very dry historians. He proves that you can be both rigorously academic and still readable. Men on Horseback is an overview of the role that modern charismatic leaders played during the Age of Revolutions. Bell discusses the Corsican leader Paoli, George Washington, Robiespierre, Napoleon Bonaparte, Toussaint Louverture, and Simon Bolivar.
Bell examines the media revolution and how it created intimate relationships between followers and their leaders. Or at least, the followers felt an emotional connection to their revolutionary leaders. I think Bell was a little too easy on Bonaparte where he was much more hard hitting with Washington. Bell discusses the importance of examining charismatic leadership and the way those leaders drive historical change.
Bell examines the media revolution and how it created intimate relationships between followers and their leaders. Or at least, the followers felt an emotional connection to their revolutionary leaders. I think Bell was a little too easy on Bonaparte where he was much more hard hitting with Washington. Bell discusses the importance of examining charismatic leadership and the way those leaders drive historical change.
November 22, 2024
Commanding, Charismatic Leaders – A Force for Good or Evil?
Princeton University Professor David A. Bell argues that modern historians underestimate the power and influence of charismatic leadership. The noted Age of Revolutions author believes that contemporary historians have overreacted by rejecting Thomas Carlyle’s “great man theory,” which attributes seminal historical events to the efforts of an illustrious leader. Alternatively, historians have focused on telling the stories of underrepresented groups and interpreting the actions of everyday people. While Bell agrees that these underreported stories should be told, he believes the pendulum has swung too far in neglecting the impact of charismatic leaders.
Bell writes a comparative leadership narrative of the four most prominent revolutionaries from 1775 to 1825 to rectify this imbalance. He selects George Washington, Napoleon Bonaparte, Toussaint Louverture, and Simón Bolívar. The author notes that these charismatic leaders freed two continents from imperial colonizers, created republics based on new political principles, altered state boundaries, overthrew slavery in Santo Domingo, and proclaimed the equality of all men (but not women) regardless of race (page 216). While their accomplishments were impressive, the leaders also faced disappointments and failures. Bonaparte, Louverture, and Bolívar died in exile without achieving their patriotic visions.
Today, people regard a charismatic leader as exceptional, eliciting excitement and possessing personal magnetism. Bell asserts that the charismatic leadership of his four subjects is more akin to Max Weber’s definition of a revolutionary with a highly personal form of political authority, contrasting with the then-dominant patriarchal governance of kings and royalty (p. 237). Bell states that the four leaders shared a gift of charisma, as defined by Weber. The author notes that the four revolutionaries were superb horsemen who could spend long hours in the saddle, using their horsemanship to rally their armies and constituents. Other than Washington, the leaders specifically cultivated followers through symbolic behaviors and adulatory events. The sources of Washington’s charisma are more challenging to pinpoint. Contemporaries point to his impressive physique, stoicism, and aloof demeanor. However, Bell reports that Washington’s reputation increased, even in defeats, becoming the personification of the American War for Independence.
Another interesting observation is that Napoleon, Louverture, and Bolivar compared themselves to Washington, wishing to be regarded with the same legacy. However, the latter three leaders, while initially espousing democratic and republican ideals, turned to authoritarian rule. While Washington gave up power, the other three did not, leading to ignominious endings to their political careers and lives. Despite the latter three’s failures to maintain democratic republicanism, their legacy of charisma endured. For example, the author notes that in the thirty years after Napoleon’s death, biographers authored over 2500 books, many of them laudatory. The cult of charisma continues as modern-day political successors burnished Louverture’s and Bolivar’s legacies by commemorating their impact on Haiti and Venezuela.
Bell concludes that charisma is an “integral, inescapable part of modern political life” and “democracy’s shadow self.” As such, historians should not overlook the study of its effectiveness and political impact. Likewise, citizens should recognize that charismatic leaders can be forces for both good and evil. John Adams warned of excessive Washington idolatry, and his son worried about Andrew Jackson’s despotic tendencies (p. 222).
Today, people should not underestimate the good and evil intentions of politicians who can fill stadiums without relying on well-known entertainers to draw in their supporters. Charismatic politicians can create or threaten constitutional democratic regimes (p. 230). As a result, individual leaders matter as much as general society trends, and citizens should choose their leaders carefully and not be overly swayed by charismatic behaviors.
Men on Horseback is an invaluable reflection to aid in decision-making about charismatic leaders.
Princeton University Professor David A. Bell argues that modern historians underestimate the power and influence of charismatic leadership. The noted Age of Revolutions author believes that contemporary historians have overreacted by rejecting Thomas Carlyle’s “great man theory,” which attributes seminal historical events to the efforts of an illustrious leader. Alternatively, historians have focused on telling the stories of underrepresented groups and interpreting the actions of everyday people. While Bell agrees that these underreported stories should be told, he believes the pendulum has swung too far in neglecting the impact of charismatic leaders.
Bell writes a comparative leadership narrative of the four most prominent revolutionaries from 1775 to 1825 to rectify this imbalance. He selects George Washington, Napoleon Bonaparte, Toussaint Louverture, and Simón Bolívar. The author notes that these charismatic leaders freed two continents from imperial colonizers, created republics based on new political principles, altered state boundaries, overthrew slavery in Santo Domingo, and proclaimed the equality of all men (but not women) regardless of race (page 216). While their accomplishments were impressive, the leaders also faced disappointments and failures. Bonaparte, Louverture, and Bolívar died in exile without achieving their patriotic visions.
Today, people regard a charismatic leader as exceptional, eliciting excitement and possessing personal magnetism. Bell asserts that the charismatic leadership of his four subjects is more akin to Max Weber’s definition of a revolutionary with a highly personal form of political authority, contrasting with the then-dominant patriarchal governance of kings and royalty (p. 237). Bell states that the four leaders shared a gift of charisma, as defined by Weber. The author notes that the four revolutionaries were superb horsemen who could spend long hours in the saddle, using their horsemanship to rally their armies and constituents. Other than Washington, the leaders specifically cultivated followers through symbolic behaviors and adulatory events. The sources of Washington’s charisma are more challenging to pinpoint. Contemporaries point to his impressive physique, stoicism, and aloof demeanor. However, Bell reports that Washington’s reputation increased, even in defeats, becoming the personification of the American War for Independence.
Another interesting observation is that Napoleon, Louverture, and Bolivar compared themselves to Washington, wishing to be regarded with the same legacy. However, the latter three leaders, while initially espousing democratic and republican ideals, turned to authoritarian rule. While Washington gave up power, the other three did not, leading to ignominious endings to their political careers and lives. Despite the latter three’s failures to maintain democratic republicanism, their legacy of charisma endured. For example, the author notes that in the thirty years after Napoleon’s death, biographers authored over 2500 books, many of them laudatory. The cult of charisma continues as modern-day political successors burnished Louverture’s and Bolivar’s legacies by commemorating their impact on Haiti and Venezuela.
Bell concludes that charisma is an “integral, inescapable part of modern political life” and “democracy’s shadow self.” As such, historians should not overlook the study of its effectiveness and political impact. Likewise, citizens should recognize that charismatic leaders can be forces for both good and evil. John Adams warned of excessive Washington idolatry, and his son worried about Andrew Jackson’s despotic tendencies (p. 222).
Today, people should not underestimate the good and evil intentions of politicians who can fill stadiums without relying on well-known entertainers to draw in their supporters. Charismatic politicians can create or threaten constitutional democratic regimes (p. 230). As a result, individual leaders matter as much as general society trends, and citizens should choose their leaders carefully and not be overly swayed by charismatic behaviors.
Men on Horseback is an invaluable reflection to aid in decision-making about charismatic leaders.
February 15, 2023
Writing this to expand upon the other reviews here: this book is about how charismatic leaders (in the sociological/Weberian sense) are not the feudal-leftover antithesis of democratic and constitutional governance, but its "shadow" that came from the same wellspring in the Age of Revolution around the turn of the 19th Century. The expansion of mass media, including newspapers, biographies, and novels that promoted "sentimental" attachment to characters and political figures, coupled with the disruption of the time period, led to the rise and cross-pollinating veneration of Washington, Bonaparte, Louverture, and Bolivar as charismatic leaders, with a dry run by their less-successful predecessor, Pasquale Paoli. To show this emergence, the book presents a biographical chapter on each, with fairly cursory historical summaries and a focus on the media environment and the assessments of contemporaries, with the aforementioned cross-pollination as each is compared to their predecessors or shares biographers in common. The social arrangement around a charismatic leader is a new one, differing from the divine right of kings that had previously reigned in the Atlantic world, and sharing an uneasy bond (and Classical precedents) with the emergence of government by laws and constitutionalism that succeeded in some of the cases discussed (possibly with the help of charisma?) but was overcome by charismatic leadership in others. The book concludes with thoughtful remarks about how charisma isn't inherently good or evil, and about how historians can take care to pay closer attention to its role in historical events without falling into a Great Man Theory of History trap.
September 14, 2022
An interesting history of an idea: the "charisma" that turned revolutionary "men on horseback" like Washington and Napoleon into household idols (even as their enemies loathed them). Bell traces the roles of the printing press, new Romantic ideas and the revolutionary feeling of ideological ferment as old orders were overthrown. The book mostly unfolds through sequential biographies of Bell's exemplars: Pasquale Paoli, George Washington, Napoleon Bonaparte, Toussaint Louverture and Simon Bolivar, bookended by thematic essays reflecting more abstractly on his theme. Not the kind of book that will upend how you see the world, but one that will deepen your knowledge of history.
December 11, 2023
I might expand on this review later: I hesitantly pressed on 4 stars and did so only because this book is, in my opinion, absolutely worth the read. It presents interesting concepts and intriguing points of view. Yet, at times I couldn’t help finding it truly baffling, for its simplistic schematisations at times and for the way he jumps to conclusions and doesn’t do very good history with absolutely every point he tries to argue, among other things.
March 30, 2022
First line: “When Shakespeare’s character Cassius used these words to describe Julius Caesar, he evoked one of the most durable myths in human culture: there are giants among us—titans, heroes, Übermenschen.”
Last line: “Our task is to choose these charismatic leaders wisely, by judging as carefully as possible both the individuals themselves and the causes for which they stand.”
Last line: “Our task is to choose these charismatic leaders wisely, by judging as carefully as possible both the individuals themselves and the causes for which they stand.”
September 28, 2021
Check out our Books in 5 review of Men On Horseback!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=klnBy...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=klnBy...
December 13, 2021
Had to read this for school.
July 10, 2022
Gen X lib tries doesn't understand connection between democracy, great men, and nationalism. Tries to make this about Trump. Thinks great men are bad.
December 20, 2022
I was talking about this book earlier today and couldn't remember Paoli's name. But then I did (it's Paoli).
July 5, 2023
Excellent.
February 8, 2023
Pleasantly surprised. Bell draws a strong correlation between great revolutionaries of the 17th & 18th Century and the great Age of Reason/the subsequent emergence of democracy in the Western world. Through this rhetoric, he concludes that charismatic leaders are not only a byproduct of the Enlightenment, but were heavily influenced by each other - starting with Pasquale Paoli in Corsica.
4.25/5.
4.25/5.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews