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Book Review: The Shortest Shadow: Nietzsche's Philosophy of The Two

munity does not “suit democratic politics”; only staying put and working things out does (pp. xviii-xix). Moreover, Allen underemphasizes the extent to which citizenship and public life are becoming more global, cross-cutting, and even “virtual,” such that selective withdrawal from some of the political communities with which one is associated, and migration to others, is increasingly possible. Finally, for all of her emphasis on the crucial role of “democratic techniques to engage citizenly subjectivity” (p. 86), in order to deal with corrosive emotions and ingrained bad habits, Allen considers only a narrow range of techniques. Drawing on Aristotle, she contends that emotions have “conceptual structures” which make it “possible to intervene in them,” and then focuses almost entirely on techniques in the realm of rhetoric and speech, believing that citizens can be “talked out of” certain feelings (p. 150). Although far more promising than Habermas’s rationalist conception of discourse, such an approach remains overly intellectual—too limited to the linguistic and discursive—by not considering a wider range of media and techniques for working on habit, emotion, and affect. The above challenges should be read simply as respectful engagements— the sort of engagements that Allen invites her readers and fellow citizens to enter into, and which she pursues so gently and generously. Allen’s incandescent intelligence, seasoned idealism, and breathtaking prose ensure that Talking to Strangers will be talked about for years to come.