Book excerpt: Populism, Demagoguery, and Rhetoric in Historical Perspective explores the connections between contemporary populism, populist rhetoric, and a wide range of thinkers and topics in the history of political thought, from the ancient to the modern world. Throughout the volume, contributors demonstrate links between contemporary populism and the tradition of rhetoric, as well as new connections between populism and demagoguery, a phenomenon that has been discussed by political theorists and philosophers since antiquity. With this wide range of connections in mind, the volume draws on diverse perspectives and methodologies to theorize populist politics in historical perspective, and to enrich the debate surrounding it.