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Index
Cover
Series
Title page
Copyright
Introduction: Contemplating a House of Cards
PART I SOCRATES, PLATO, AND FRANK
1 Of Sheep, Shepherds, and a Wolf in Sheep's Clothing
Justice and Power
Underwood's Cynical Use of “His People”
It's Good to Be Bad
Rings of “Power” and Myths
Rings and the “Craft” of Perfect Injustice
Tyranny, Philosophy, and the Search for Meaning in a Cynical World
Can We Really Get Away with Injustice?
Notes
2 Being versus Seeming
“Who the Hell Are You Talking To?”
Frank and the Ring of Gyges
Frank and the Examined Life
Playing the President to Play the President
Real Problems
Notes
PART II IMAGINING POSSIBILITIES: AMERICAN IDEALS IN HOUSE OF CARDS
3 Frank Underwood Gives the Ideal Society a Reality Check
The Ideals of The West Wing and the Reality of House of Cards
Frank Underwood throughout History
A New Kind of Ideal Society
When John Rawls Embraces Frank Underwood
Notes
4 “What Will We Leave Behind?” Claire Underwood's American Dream
“Burning the Barn to Find Our Penny in the Hay”: Adams's American Dream and Ressentiment
Claire Underwood: The Resentful Überfrau
Notes
PART III CHARACTERIZING FRANK: ÜBERMENSCH OR THE PRINCE
5 Underwood as Übermensch
“Power Is a Lot Like Real Estate, It's All About Location.… The Closer You Are to the Source, the Higher Your Property Value.”
“And Others Are There Who Are Like Eight-day Clocks When Wound Up; They Tick, and Want People to Call Ticking—Virtue.”
“You Know What I Like About People? They Stack So Well.”
“I Will Make That Hypocrisy Hurt.”
“He's Got Power. He's Got a Lot to Lose. And Right Now He is Winning.”
“When Has Your Help Ever Helped Me?”
“The Road to Power is Paved with Hypocrisy and Casualties. Never Regret”
“I Will Win and I Will Leave a Legacy.”
Notes
6 Why Underwood Is Frankly Not an Overman
Inside the Beltway: Typology, Not Topography
Master Frank: Doing What Is Necessary
“Why Me?” Peter Russo, Slave Extraordinaire
Will the Real Overman Please Stand Up?
Don't Übermenschen It
The Under/Over on Frank
Notes
7 American Machiavelli
“We're in a Very Gray Area. Ethically, Legally. Which I'm Okay With.”—Zoe Barnes
“Friends Make the Worst Enemies.”—Frank Underwood
“I'm a Good Christian, Remy, Like Your Mother.”—Frank Underwood
Majority Whip Jackie Sharp: “Mr. Vice President, What You Are Asking Is Just Shy of Treason.”
“Moments Like This Require Someone Who Will Act. To Do the Unpleasant Thing. The Necessary Thing.”—Frank Underwood
Notes
8 Machiavelli Would Not Be Impressed
Education Reform at All Costs
The Original Machiavelli
Failing to Keep Up Appearances
The Other FU Was Better
Maybe Machiavelli Wasn't Serious
Notes
9 Is Frank the Man for the Job? House of Cards and the Problem of Dirty Hands
Avoiding the Problem
The Struggle for Power
Facing a Catastrophe
The Solutions
Frank's Dirty Hands: The Wrong Person in the Right Place?
Notes
PART IV CLASSICAL LIBERALISM AND DEMOCRACY
10 Frank the Foole, Upon a House of Cards
Frank the Foole
Hobbes's Critique of the Foole
Is Frank's Behavior Rational?
Frank's Objection and the Hobbesian Response
Notes
11 Hobbes and Frank on Why Democracy Is Overrated
The Fault in Our Democratic Stars
Hungry Like a Wolf
Money Changes Everything
The Policy of Untruth
The Advantage of the Stronger
Notes
12 “Democracy Is So Overrated”
The Underwoods Visit the Kallipolis
Frank the (Unhappy?) Tyrant
From Hobbes to Hegel: Why Monarchs Rule
Are the Underwoods Marxist Revolutionaries?
Are the Underwoods Unstoppable?
Notes
13 “Money Gives Power … Well, a Run for Its Money”
Marx's Method of Historical Analysis
A Case Study in Historical Materialism: Frank for VP
AmWorks: Is Frank's Goal a Capitalist Goal?
Capitalist versus Capitalist: AmWorks and Walmart
Worker Victories: Class Warfare and Class Conflict
Liberal Democracy Is Overrated
Notes
14 Freedom and Democracy in a House of Fear
The “Property Value” of a Surveillance State
Prison of Cards
“Open” House?
Say Nothing
Nobody Can Hear You … Except Us
Notes
PART V INTRAPERSONAL RELATIONSHIPS, SEXUALITY, AND RACE IN HOUSE OF CARDS
15 Under the Covers with the Underwoods
A Frank Discussion of Adultery
A New Type of Marriage Vow
Tell Me No Lies
Do No Harm
God, Punzo, and the Case for Special Sex
Rethinking Sex and Commitment
The Underwood's Egalitarian Partnership
Incidental Objections
Notes
16 The Spice of White Life
“I Get to Play the Nigger”: The Narrative of Freddy Hayes
The Situation of Black Male Life
Racial Capitalism and the Representation of Black Male Life
Racial Realism and Harassing White Folks
Notes
17 Broken Friendships and the Pathology of Corporate Personhood in House of Cards
“You Ain't Got to Pretend to Be My Friend”
States and Corporations: What's the Difference?
Tusk and the Punching Bag Walkers
If You Can't Beat 'Em, Join 'Em
Why Rousseau?
Notes
PART VI EXISTENTIAL REALITIES: SELF-LOVE AND FREEDOM
18 Praying to One's Self, for One's Self
Leave the Ideology to the Armchair Generals …
Everything Is Permitted
Frank's Virtù
Assessing Autoeroticism
Notes
19 Existential Freedom, Self-Interest, and Frank Underwood's Underhandedness
Self-Interest and Morality
Consciousness and Freedom
Essences and Freedom
Freedom and Responsibility
Notes
PART VII LET ME BE FRANK WITH YOU: AGENCY, AESTHETICS, AND INTENTION
20 Rooting for the Villain
Resistance to Frank Is Futile
That First Pitch in Greenville
The Whale of Imaginative Resistance
Notes
21 Frank Underwood's Intentions
“The Nature of Plans Is That They Do Not Remain Immune to Changing Circumstances”
“Decisions Made on Emotions Aren't Decisions at All”
“Take a Step Back and Look at the Bigger Picture”
Notes
22 Francis Underwood's Magical Political Mystery Tour Is Dying to Take You Away; Dying to Take You Away, Take You Today
Useless Things
Exhibit A
Words Are Actions
Full Disclosure
Notes
PART VIII VIRTUE AND CHARACTER IN HOUSE OF CARDS
23 Frank Underwood and the Virtue of Friendship
“I Won't Leave One of My Own Bleeding on the Field”
“Friends Make the Worst Enemies”
“Life Is Sweet When You Spend It with Your Friends”
Notes
24 Have You No Decency? Who Is Worse, Claire or Frank?
Character Studies and Studies in Character
Richard Plantagenet and Elizabeth Tudor
St. Francis and St. Claire
The Past, the Present Perfect, and the Future Subjunctive
An Indirect Route
Learning from Our Betters
Democracy behind the Eight Ball
We the People
A Guess at a Riddle
Notes
President Frank Underwood's White House Staff (Contributors)
Index
EULA
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