The Cambridge History of Eighteenth-Century Political Thought

The Cambridge History of Political Thought

by Mark Goldie, Robert Wokler

This major work of academic reference provides a comprehensive overview of the development of western political thought during the European enlightenment. Written by a distinguished team of international contributors, this Cambridge History is the latest in a sequence of volumes that is now firmly established as the principal reference source for the history of political thought. Every major theme in eighteenth-century political thought is covered in a series of essays at once scholarly and accessible, and the essays are complemented by extensive guides for further reading, and brief biographical notes of the major characters in the text, including Rousseau, Montesquieu and David Hume. Of interest and relevance to students and scholars of politics and history at all levels from beginning undergraduate upwards, this volume chronicles one of the most exciting and rewarding of all periods in the development of western thinking about politics, man (and increasingly woman), and society.

Genres: Politics, History, Philosophy, Nonfiction

936 pages, Hardcover

First published September 11, 2006

Reviews

[Lawrence · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a thorough and comprehensive book, but it turns out, I am just not interested in eighteenth-century political thought! I am not going to make it a major part of my dissertation! So I stopped a quarter of the way through (i.e., 240 pages through, which I think is a really respectable 'try'.) I think this book would be great for forming a thorough overview of the subject, but because in the end it wasn't relevant to my actual research questions, I struggled to synthesize or remember all of the information -- I didn't have anywhere to 'put' it. The chapters also seemed to vary a lot in their approach to the subject and the quality of writing, which made it hard to feel like I was learning a unified field or subject.

[Jayden Davidson · Rating 5 out of 5]

As far as reference works go, this is one of the best. Drawing together some of the best names in intellectual history, this book is invaluable for understanding some of the biggest debates in eighteenth-century politics in an introductory capacity. Drawing together specific thinkers, major themes, and important contextual elements, the individual writers have put their expertise to great use.

It's certainly not a book to read from cover-to-cover (I properly read about 7 of the chapters and picked through 8-9 others). Pick out what you're interested in and go from there.