Rigorism

Lennart Svensson introduces rigorism, a framework built on the Latin word rigor, which points to hardness and discipline. He uses it to study willpower as a force in the past, including the capacity to act decisively during a crisis and to take responsibility while wielding authority. In his view, this aspect of history has been overlooked, even though every historical figure has had to draw on inner resolve when circumstances turned dangerous.

The book begins with the regimes of Sparta, Macedonia, and the Diadochi, then moves on to the late Republic and Imperial Rome. Svensson next turns to figures of the Faustian Era, among them Napoleon, Boulanger, and de Gaulle.

Alongside these studies, the volume takes up a range of other subjects: cycles of war, the artistic interests of rulers, the role of temples, heroes of aviation, the Shogan, and Kautilya's Arthashastra.