Why Plato Wrote argues that Plato was not only the world’s first systematic political philosopher, but also the western world’s first think-tank activist and message man.

• Shows that Plato wrote to change Athenian society and thereby transform Athenian politics
• Offers accessible discussions of Plato’s philosophy of language and political theory
• Selected by Choice as an Outstanding Academic Title for 2011

Danielle S. Allen is UPS Foundation Professor at the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton. She is the author of The World of Prometheus: The Politics of Punishing in Democratic Athens (2000) and Talking to Strangers: Anxieties of Citizenship Since Brown vs. the Board of Education (2004).