Friedrich Engels (1820-1895) is ranked alongside Karl Marx as one of the founders and developers of the Communist movement. Throughout his life he was active in various areas of writing, social science, political theory, and philosophy, authoring and co-authoring very significant works such as «The Communist Manifesto» with Marx. His own 1845 work, «The Condition of the Working-Class in England», was Engel's first work, written after he spe ...
Considered by many to be among the greatest works of political philosophy, especially in the English language, «Leviathan» is Hobbes' book, published in 1651, which outlines his theories on an ideal state and its creation. The structure of a society and a legitimate government, as he reasons, is perhaps the earliest example of social contract theory, which outlines the need of rule by an absolute sovereign. In Hobbes' time, the politic ...
A commentary on Titus Livius's (Livy's) work on Roman History, «The Discourses on Livy» is Niccolo Machiavelli's examination of the structure and benefit of the republic. Considered the most important work on the subject of republicanism in the early modern era, «The Discourses on Livy» are comprised of three books. In the first book Machiavelli discusses the internal structure of a republic. In the second book he discusses matter ...
In 1831, the then twenty-seven year old Alexis de Tocqueville, was sent with Gustave de Beaumont to America by the French Government to study and make a report on the American prison system. Over a period of nine months the two traveled all over America making notes not only on the prison systems but on all aspects of American society and government. From these notes Tocqueville wrote «Democracy in America», an exhaustive analysis of the success ...
In 1831, the then twenty-seven year old Alexis de Tocqueville, was sent with Gustave de Beaumont to America by the French Government to study and make a report on the American prison system. Over a period of nine months the two traveled all over America making notes not only on the prison systems but on all aspects of American society and government. From these notes Tocqueville wrote «Democracy in America», an exhaustive analysis of the success ...
Mikhail Bakunin (1814-1876) was a Russian revolutionary and theorist, and has often been called the father of anarchist theory. Bakunin studied philosophy, finding himself drawn to works by Fichte and Hegel, eventually converting himself entirely to Hegelianism. Bakunin gained criminal status after being deported from France – where he met George Sand, Pierre-Joseph Proudhon and Karl Marx – and later being arrested for his involvement in the Cze ...
Lithuanian born anarchist Emma Goldman emmigrated to the United States at the age of sixteen. She first became attracted to anarchism following the Haymarket affair of 1886, a massacre in which seven police officers and an unknown number of civilians were killed during a march of striking Chicago workers. Eight anarchists were subsequently tried for murder. «Anarchism and Other Essays» is a collection of essays first published in 1911. The volum ...
This volume includes some of the most important historical documents in American history. In this edition are included the following: The Declaration of Independence of The United States of America (1776), The Constitution of the United States of America (1787), The Bill of Rights and Other Amendments to the Constitution (1791-1992), The Albany Plan (1754), The Declaration of Rights (1765 – In Response to the Stamp Act), Declaration of Rights an ...
In «On Liberty,» John Stuart Mill begins by writing, «The subject of this essay is not the so-called 'liberty of the will', so unfortunately opposed to the misnamed doctrine of philosophical necessity; but civil, or social liberty: the nature and limits of the power which can be legitimately exercised by society over the individual.» It is this concept that is at the heart of this work. John Stuart Mill eloquently ponders the question ...
