Charisma in Politics, Religion and the Media

1. Front Matter

   Pages i-xiv

   PDF

2. Political Charisma: Crisis and Paradox

   • David Aberbach

   Pages 1-16

3. Churchill in 1940–1: The Fragility of Charisma

   • David Aberbach

   Pages 17-24

4. Hitler: Charisma and Racism

   • David Aberbach

   Pages 25-33

5. Charisma and Religion: From Ecstasy to Democracy

   • David Aberbach

   Pages 35-44

6. Krishnamurti: Reluctant Messiah

   • David Aberbach

   Pages 45-58

7. Paradoxes of a ‘National Poet’: The Strange Case of Bialik

   • David Aberbach

   Pages 59-73

8. Charisma and the Media

   • David Aberbach

   Pages 75-88

9. Chaplin: Of Crime and Genius

   • David Aberbach

   Pages 89-101

10. Conclusion

    • David Aberbach

    Pages 103-108

11. Back Matter

    Pages 109-121

    PDF

What are the origins of charisma? Are these the same in the various forms of public life, in politics and the media as well as in religion? In this new and radical interpretation of charisma, David Aberbach argues that the basis of charisma in all its forms must be found in the often-obscure symbolic intersection between the inner world of the charismatic and external social and political reality. As illustrations of various facets of this argument, he provides general analyses of charisma in politics, religion and the media as well as individual studies of Churchill, Hitler, Krishnamurti, Bialik and Chaplin.

• crime
• democracy
• media
• politics

• McGill University, Canada

  David Aberbach

• London School of Economics, UK

  David Aberbach

DAVID ABERBACH

Policies and ethics