MARC Record from marc_columbia

LEADER: 02915cam a22004454a 4500
001 7587205
005 20221201012453.0
008 081203s2009 ilu b 001 0 eng c
010 $a 2008051926
020 $a9780226473154 (hardcover : alk. paper)
020 $a0226473155 (hardcover : alk. paper)
024 $a40017485879
035 $a(OCoLC)ocn281091955
035 $a(OCoLC)281091955
035 $a(NNC)7587205
035 $a7587205
040 $aICU/DLC$cDLC$dBTCTA$dUKM$dC#P$dOrLoB-B
042 $apcc
050 00 $aPN6149.P64$bL47 2009
082 00 $a809.7/93581$222
100 1 $aLerner, Ralph.$0http://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/n85336667
245 10 $aPlaying the fool :$bsubversive laughter in troubled times /$cRalph Lerner.
260 $aChicago :$bUniversity of Chicago Press,$c2009.
300 $aix, 134 pages ;$c24 cm
336 $atext$btxt$2rdacontent
337 $aunmediated$bn$2rdamedia
504 $aIncludes bibliographical references and index.
505 00 $g1.$tTomfoolery in Earnest -- $g2.$tThe Jihad of St. Alban -- $g3.$tBurton's Antics -- $g4.$tRemedial Education in Professor Bayle's History Class -- $g5.$tFranklin's Double Take on Rights -- $g6.$tThe Smile of a Philosophic Historian.
520 1 $a"The role of the fool is to provoke the powerful to question their convictions, preferably while avoiding a beating. Fools accomplish this not by hectoring their audience, but by broaching sensitive topics indirectly, often disguising their message in a joke or a tale. Writers and thinkers throughout history have adopted the fool's approach, and here Ralph Lerner turns to six of them - Thomas More, Francis Bacon, Robert Burton, Pierre Bayle, Benjamin Franklin, and Edward Gibbon - to elucidate the strategies these men employed to persuade the heedless, the zealous, and the overly confident to pause and reconsider." "As Playing the Fool makes plain, all these men lived through periods marked by fanaticism, particularly with regard to religion and its relation to the state. In such dangerous times, advocating on behalf of skepticism and against tyranny could easily lead to censure, or even, as in More's case, execution. And so, Lerner reveals, these serious thinkers relied on humor to move their readers toward a more reasoned understanding of the world and our place in it."--BOOK JACKET.
650 0 $aPolitical satire$xHistory and criticism.
650 0 $aFools and jesters$xPolitical aspects.
650 0 $aLaughter$xPolitical aspects.
650 0 $aPolitical science$xLanguage.
600 10 $aMore, Thomas,$cSaint,$d1478-1535$xLanguage.
600 10 $aBacon, Francis,$d1561-1626$xLanguage.
600 10 $aBurton, Robert,$d1577-1640$xLanguage.
600 10 $aBayle, Pierre,$d1647-1706$xLanguage.
600 10 $aFranklin, Benjamin,$d1706-1790$xLanguage.
600 10 $aGibbon, Edward,$d1737-1794$xLanguage.
852 00 $bmil$hPN6149.P64$iL47 2009