Democracy and the Will to Power is an important discussion of the failures of democracy and the menace of the mob by an elitist Nietzschean philosopher. James N. Wood (b. 1871) was a mechanical engineer and inventor of American-English stock who briefly was active in the Social Democratic Party as a socialist. However, Wood soon became dissatisfied with socialism and came to reject all political parties. This book, which includes an Introduction by the famous wit and fellow Nietzschean, H. L. Mencken, shows the failures of democracy and the menace of the mob man. Wood argues that democracy actually has little to do with the popular will, or even the will of the majority, and rather arises as a conflict between superior minority groups and the great masses. Wood has little faith in the vast majority seeing them as easily manipulated and presses his arguments towards the man of genius, the superior man who is often oppressed by the lower elements within society. This book offers a profound glimpse into the failures of the democratic system and shows how various groups through their will to power attempt to control that system. Wood explains the changes and advances that have occurred throughout history, but rejects the naïve notion of progress championed by so many proponents of democracy. This book offers an interesting examination of the failure of democracy, the triumph of the mediocre, the suppression of the man of genius, and the rule of the mass mob. Influenced extensively by the philosophy of Nietzsche, this book offers an elitist perspective on the rise of the mass man at a time when such was occurring around the world. As such, this book remains important to our understanding of the profound failure of democracy and the rule of the inferior.