Democracy's Beginnings: The Athenian Story by Thomas Noel Mitchell

This book nailed the topic I wanted to explore further, the details of the inner workings of the world's first democracy in 5th Century BC Athens.

But the bonus has been its continuation through the 4th Century BC in Athens, a time period for which I know surprisingly little, and which I'm just about to delve into through the study of Xenophon and his writings.

And it turns out that the 4th century democracy in Athens actually eclipsed that of the 5th in its ability to provide a more stable and equal society.  At the conclusion of The Peloponnesian War and the subsequent oligarchic revolutions, Athenian society took a deep look inward, instituting (and publishing) legal reforms that dramatically improved its constitution.

Athens forever turned its back on oligarchy (and tyranny), instead creating a purer form of democracy that involved, and in fact required, larger cross sections of its citizenry.  4th century Athenians committed large portions of their time to serving the state in the Assembly, the Council and in the Courts.  No state before, or possibly since, so thoroughly involved more from its citizens in deliberating, legislating, adjudicating and managing itself.

Wow, I'm so glad I decided to dive deeper into this most-Athenian characteristics of the ancient state at its height.

A noteworthy quote:

"At the end of the fifth century a state archive was created in the Agora when the Old Bouleuterion was converted into a state archive, the Metroon, housing important public documents, which were available to citizens on request. The legal reforms at the end of the fifth century, which required that the body of revised, ratified law must be inscribed on the wall of the Stoa Basileios in the Agora, and that all proposals for new legislation must be posted in the Agora to allow public perusal and input before the final vote in the Assembly, contributed further to a well-informed citizenry."