"In this short book about a big topic, Jack Turner writes about politics in a personal vein and about persons in a political vein. With Walt Whitman as one muse, Turner turns a challenge we often confront alone--death--into a potent source of democratic energy. With James Baldwin as a second muse, he shows that when we shrink from our finitude, the poisons of nation, empire, and race are always near. Die Your Own Death is how epic political theory meets its world."-- Corey Robin, author of The Enigma of Clarence Thomas "Jack Turner's stunning revisionist interpretation of Walt Whitman's democratic theory reveals him to be a tragically divided figure who embraces the democratic promise of a mortalist humanism, while also exemplifying the seductive allure of an antidemocratic national immortalism. These competing figurations of democracy's relation to death illuminate the existentialist contours of our contemporary democratic crisis." --Jason Frank, author of The Democratic Sublime: On Aesthetics and Popular Assembly "Through a rich engagement with Walt Whitman, Turner powerfully shows why democracy needs citizens who can convert a fear of death into a passion for a life where all can flourish. This original vision of an existential democracy equips us to weather the uncertainties of freedom and to cultivate the compassion needed for equality.

A beautiful book."-- Sharon Krause, author of Eco-Emancipation: An Earthly Politics of Freedom "A fresh, exciting, and thought-provoking study of Whitman as a political thinker. The book offers close readings of Whitman's major works that at once situate them in historical context while at the same time putting them in dialogue with the broader currents of the history of political thought, from Pericles to Heidegger. The scholarship is rigorous, the writing is elegant, the sources are comprehensive."-- Alexander Livingston, author of Damn Great Empires! William James and the Politics of Pragmatism "Through Walt Whitman's evolving philosophy of mortality, Die Your Own Death reveals how our understanding of life's limits is fundamental to our visions of freedom and equality. Affirming vulnerability, finitude, and individuality, Jack Turner has written a book that exposes immortalism's dark alliance with racial empire while calling us to reclaim mortality as democracy's forgotten foundation."-- Cristina Beltrán, author of Cruelty as Citizenship: How Migrant Suffering Sustains White Democracy " Die Your Own Death is consistently illuminating and grows steadily stronger as it unfolds. A stimulating and important book.

"-- Nick Bromell, author of The Powers of Dignity: The Black Political Philosophy of Frederick Douglass.