This is a selection of readings and DVDs which will allow students of this course in political philosophy to explore the ideas presented in the classes.

1. GENERAL
symbols: after a DVD, (N) = available from Netflix (L) after a book, = Ham Co Public
Library; # = number of copies at the Ham Co Public Library.
My “office hours” are 24/7 at e-Mail address: jbpowers@mac.com
You can review any session you miss at www.slideshare.net/jbpowers
You will also find some of the handouts there as free downloads
When I wrote this little book in 1977 my template was William Ebenstein, Great Political
Thinkers; Plato to the Present, 1960. @ AbeBooks.com for $1.00 and up. My mentor when I
began high school teaching in 1964 had just come back from a John Hay fellowship at Yale. Here
she had used this text. I team taught with her and the seed was planted. You just can’t beat Abe
for $ and availability!
Ryan, Alan P., On Politics; A History of Political Thought. 2 vols, Norton, 2012.(L) Az
$43. A review in the 10/29/12 New Yorker led me to reference this book. He begins with
Herodotus and Thucydides before he goes to Plato and Aristotle. All of our ten are included and
quite a few more.
The first four sessions below were taught last fall. Hence their numbers. Spring 2013 classes
begin with Thomas Hobbes and are titled v-xi. The first four classes are available on Slideshare
at the URL listed above. It is not necessary to review them in order to understand this spring’s
classes.
i-Introduction to Justice & Power
Regrettably, Justice & Power has become a collector’s item! ;-) i.e., no copies available. Try
eBay ;-)
This session is a revised introduction and acknowledgements from the two editions of the
booklet written in the twentieth century.
ii-Plato

2. Below are the texts for a National Endowment for the Humanities seminar at St. John’s College,
Santa Fe, in 1984:
Annas, Julia, An Introduction to Plato’s Republic. Oxford University Press, 1981 L .
For both beginners and advanced students. First of several books assigned reading for an NEH
seminar in Santa Fe, NM, summer of 1983.
Plato, Plato’s Republic, trans. G.M.A. Grube. Hackett, 1974. L Nice text, good
summaries and introduction.
Shorey, Paul What Plato Said, abridged ed. Univ of Chicago Press, 1965. Synopses of
all the dialogues with analysis and critical comments.
White, Nicholas P., A Companion to Plato’s Republic. Hackett, 1979. Another of the
seminar texts.
iii-Aristotle
The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy has a very readable entry on Aristotle’s Politics at :
http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/aristotle-politics/index.html#return2-supplement1
Aristotle, The Politics; Cambridge Texts in the History of Political Thought, ed.
Stephen Everson Cambridge University Press, 1988. L (4) Excellent 25 page introduction,
no annotations.
Aristotle, The Politics of Aristotle; Translated with Introduction Analysis and Notes
by, Peter L. Phillips Simpson University of North Carolina Press, 1997 . L (2) 44 pages
of introduction, detailed annotations. Especially helpful are his head notes before each section
(20-140 lines of text) where he summarizes what Aristotle will be saying in this block of text.
Aristotle is not the easiest writer to come to grips with!
Stocks, John L., Aristotelianism. Longmans, Green & Co., 1927. L (2) Very readable
essay on Aristotle’s place and method in the history of Western Philosophy. Even though the date
may seem to work against it, this short treatment is timeless and demonstrates nicely the role
which Aristotle’s contribution has played in the intellectual history of our society. (only 155 pp.)
He begins with a biography and what he calls the Socratic succession. Next Aristotle’s World is a
sort of Cliff’s Notes to the whole body of thought. “The City,’ pp. 103-118 is his digest of The
Politics. The epilogue is a history of the influence of Aristotle on later thought.
iv-Machiavelli

3. The Borgias DVD (N) 2011--A Showtime series starring Jeremy Irons as a very believable
Roderigo Borgia, Pope Alexander vi. His famous children, Cardinal Césare and daughter
Lucretia, the poisoner are also accurately, if sympathetically portrayed. The storytelling reflects
the rough and violent behavior of the age hence I’d rate it -R. But it recreates the era which led
Machiavelli to write his ruthless but accurate handbook for princes. It depicts the diplomacy of
Renaissance Italy in a memorable form.
Machiavelli, Niccolo, The Prince. If you don’t already have a copy, by all means, buy one.
It’s a real page turner. Lots of possibilities at rock bottom prices. Also widely available on line.
Everyone should read this book! He wrote in the vernacular when most books were still being
written in Latin. And the translations are reflective of Machiavelli’s desire to be easily
understood. The library has a million copies of every description. The one with the best intro and
notes is Bondanella’s & Musa’s trans. Oxford Univ Press, 1984. Sadly, of their 2 copies one is
currently listed as lost. Amazon lists 121 available used from $3.09. There’s an e-Book in Project
Gutenberg for free download at www.gutenberg.org.
jbp
9/ 5/12
v-Hobbes
The library has a huge collection of Hobbes’ writings, including for the adventurous a
downloadable e-book of Leviathan. There are a host of biographies and monographs as well.
vi-Locke
Physics:The Elegant Universe: Disk 1 DVD (N) 2005--Physicist Brian Greene gives
a very understandable introduction to the quest for unification which begins with Newton, the
father of modern physical science, and carries on to the present. I include this because it reminds
me of Thales and the beginning of all science with the Greeks who also strove for unification, the
single principle which explains the physical world. Newton’s was the age which so influenced
Locke in his quest to apply natural laws to the study of politics.
vii-Montesquieu
The library has a huge collection of Montesquieu’s writings also. There are a host of biographies
and monographs as well. I can’t personally recommend as I haven’t used them.
viii-Rousseau

4. For Rousseau, I recommend the Penguin Classic translations of his three most famous works,
Discourse on the Origins of Inequality, The Social Contract, and his celebrated autobiography
the Confessions. Each is preceded by an excellent introduction by its translator, Maurice
Cranston. Rousseau is a gifted writer which helps explain the tremendous impact of his ideas.
These books make a worthy addition to anyone’s library. I have reread them several times with
profit.
ix-Jefferson
Arnn, Larry F., The Founders’ Key. Thomas Nelson, 2012 L(1). This current study of the
18th century natural rights philosophy makes an eloquent argument that Jefferson and the other
Founders made “a possession for all ages” with the Declaration and the Constitution. Arnn
rejects the Progressives’ contention that this philosophy is an obsolete albatross restraining
today’s bureaucratic regulatory state. Read it and decide for yourself.
Becker, Carl L., The Declaration of Independence; A Study in the History of Political
Ideas. Vintage Books, 1958 (c. 1921) L(3) Abe Books has numerous copies starting at $1 +
shipping. This classic work describes the context and the intellectual history of this famous
document. Amazon has several reprint versions in paper and hardback. This is the book where I
first learned about the near plagiarism by Jefferson from Locke’s Second Treatise.
Kiernan, Denise & Joseph D’Agnese, Signing Their Lives Away; The Fame and
Misfortune of the Men Who Signed the Declaration of Independence. Quirk Books,
2009. An easy read on the subject which Becker addresses above. The breezy style is unique
among my recommendations , but I have overcome my stuffy academicism in this case. It is a
wonderful exercise on post-holing history to examine this group of signers. I remember reading a
hagiographic coffee table sized book by the DAR (?) in the IHHS library. It was patriotic but full
of ahistorical factoids. this one is sound. Nice treatment of Jefferson’s part in the expression of
the “common ideas” of the Founders.
Malone, Dumas, numerous. The editor of the complete works of Thomas Jefferson. This
famous scholar has written biographies, great and small, in addition to the “works” and
numerous monographs and scholarly articles on specialized topics.
x-Burke
Amazing Grace DVD (N) 2006--A very touching film about the career of William
Wilberforce to abolish the British slave trade. Excellent special features. Inspired by the 200 th
anniversary of the event and by a biography of the same name, below:
Burke, Edmund & Thomas Paine, Two Classics of the French Revolution, Reflections
& The Rights of Man. Anchor Doubleday, 1973. (L) 3. No notes or critical apparatus. Does
contain very brief bio sketches of the authors. Useful to see Paine’s reaction and defense of the
revolution.

5. Clark, J.C.D., ed., Edmund Burke, Reflections on the Revolution in France; A Critical
Edition. Stanford Univ. Press, 2001. Abe Bks price for like new $ 11. hard to imagine a
more definitive treatment, 88 page intro, detailed footnotes, outline, all the scholarly “bells and
whistles.” Sadly, if the library has copies I couldn’t find them on their website.
Metaxas, Eric, Amazing Grace. HarperSanFrancisco, 2007. L (4) and a downloadable
version for the adventurous. A breezy modern biography which put me off at first because he
didn’t write like “an historian.” But I soon warmed to it as he clearly (1) knew his stuff and (2)
deeply cared about this amazing man. Although Burke’s support is only mentioned 3 times, the
fact that Burke was a parliamentary ally is an important reminder of his general sympathy for the
oppressed. This contrasts with his reaction towards the French Revolution.
xi-Marx
The Library has biographies and texts galore. I have not evaluated them to make suggestions.
You’re on your own here. ;- Needless to say we all have learned as much as we cared to about
Marxism throughout our lives. If this class whets your appetite to dig for more, I will have met
my goal.
A website, www.marxists.org gives a huge amount of textual material of original writing by
Marx and his epigones. It is hosted by people who consider themselves to be his disciples. “A
word to the wise is sufficient.” Ebenstein (above) gives the entire text of The Communist
Manifesto, a distinction which no other work he excerpts shares. That should impress you with
its significance to the history of political philosophy
xii-Conclusions
No additional resources here. When I wrote Justice & Power 36 years ago, I had the rest of the
school year to present my conclusions by the way I taught about American Government. So as I
develop this Power Point I am in not quite virgin territory. I hope to involve you and your fellow
students in what will become our conclusions.