Discusses Mill's political writing applying his principle for determining proper limits for individual and collective action.

On January 10, 1776, Thomas Paine published his pamphlet "Common Sense", a persuasive argument for the colonies' political and economic separation from Britain. It cites the evils of monarchy, accuses the British government of inflicting economic and social injustices upon the colonies, and points to the absurdity of an island attempting to rule a continent. Today, it remains a landmark document in the struggle for freedom, distinguished not only...

Similar to Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle explores another facet of good living by outlining the best governing practices that benefit the majority, and not the minority. In The Politics, he defines various institutions and how they should operate within an established system. The Politics provides an analysis of contemporary government as it relates to all people. Aristotle discusses the positive and negative qualities of authority and how they affect...

Lenin wrote State and Revolution in 1917, while he was hiding from the Russian secret police. The book describes the inherent nature of the State as, a tool for class oppression, a creation born of one social class's desire, to control all other social classes. Drawing on detailed quotes from Karl Marx and Friedrick Engels, Lenin lays down a Marxist view of the state, describes how a working-class revolution will overthrow it, and goes further in...

This classic work presents the candid wit and wisdom of George Washington Plunkitt (1842—1924), a longtime state senator from New York who represented the Fifteenth Assembly District and was especially powerful in New York City. Plunkitt was part of the city's Tammany Hall organization and a cynical practitioner of what today is generally known as "machine politics," a patronage-based system in which politicians openly exercise power for personal...

John Marshall's strong personality and many Supreme Court decisions established the fourth chief justice as the most significant figure in the court's early years. His interpretation of the Constitution profoundly influenced the federal judiciary's authority over state courts and laws and wielded an enormous impact on American commerce. This volume contains some of Marshall's landmark decisions-Marbury v. Madison, Fletcher v. Peck, Dartmouth College...