Guide to Further Reading
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Guide to further reading Modern Western social and political thought is a vast subject, and this book has done no more than outline some of its more important ideas and themes. There are many alternative approaches, and many aspects which have not been covered at all in these pages, or covered only very briefly. In this bibliography I have selected a number of books which explore in greater detail some of the themes I have raised. A. General Amongst general books which survey the whole of the Western tradition I would recommend R. Berki, The History of Polt'tical Thought (Dent, London, 1977), particularly useful for summaries of the thought of major thinkers; A. Macintyre, A Short History of Ethics (RKP, London, 1967), an incisive account of the social context of the tradition of moral philosophy in the West; and Sheldon Wolin, Pol£tics and Vision (Allen & Unwin, London, 1961), a very rich and detailed survey of the whole sweep of Western political thought. For the development of sociological thought, two books by Robert Nisbet, The Sociological Tradition (Heinemann, London, 1967), and The Social Philosophers (Paladin, London, 1976) are stimulating and challenging; Raymond Aron, Main Currents in Sociolog£cal Thought (2 vols) (Penguin, Harmondsworth, 1968) surveys the development of sociological theory through an analysis of seven leading sociological thinkers; and G. Therborn, Science, Class, and Society (NLB, London, 1976) looks at the rise of modern social science and contrasts its standpoint with that of Marxism. 232 GUIDE TO FURTHER READING 233 Two other invaluable general books are Raymond Williams, Keywords (Fontana, London, 1976), which analyses the different and changing historical meanings of key terms in Western political and social thought; and A. Arblaster and S. Lukes, The Good Society (Methuen, London, 1971), a very useful anthology of writing on the nature of the good society, selected from the whole of the Western tradition. B. Western history One of the best possible introductions, not only to Western history but to world history is the Times Atlas of World History (Times Books, London, 1978), edited by Geoffrey Barraclough. Its maps and historical summaries give an unrivalled overview of the world's political and economic development. The study of Western history has changed considerably in the last thirty years. Some notable works of synthesis and interpretation include Geoffrey Barraclough, An Introduction to Contemporary History (Penguin, Harmondsworth, 1967); Barrington Moore jnr, The Social Origins of Dictatorship and Democracy (Penguin, Harmondsworth, 1969); Perry Ander son, Passages from Antiquity to Feudalism (NLB, London, 1974) and Lineages of the Absolutist State (NLB, London, 1974); and Immanuel Wallerstein, The Modern World System (Academic Press, New York, 1974). Anderson and Waller stein are particularly important for studying the period of transition from feudalism to capitalism. More specialised but invaluable for bringing together contributions to the continu ing debate on this problem is R. Hilton (ed.), The Transition from Feudalism to Capital£sm (NLB, London, 1976). On the Enlightenment and the French Revolution, Norman Hampson's book The Enlightenment (Penguin, Harmonds worth, 1968) is very clear and comprehensive, whilst different accounts of the French Revolution can be found in R. Palmer, The Age of the Democratic Revolution (Princeton University Press, Princeton, 1959); A. Soboul, The French Revolution (NLB, London, 1974); and E. Hobsbawm, The Age of Revolution (Abacus, London, 1977). The last provides the most general and most illuminating survey. For the rise of modern science there is much interesting material in L. Feuer, The Scientific Intellectuals (Basic Books, 234 MODERN SOCIAL AND POLITICAL THOUGHT New York, 1963), H. Butterfield, The Origins of Modem Science (Bell, London, 1957), J. D. Bernal, Science in History (Watts, London, 1954) and, R. G. Collingwood, The Idea of Nature (Oxford, 1965). The Industrial Revolution and its political and social impact can be studied in K. Polanyi, The Great Transform ation (Beacon Press, Boston, 1957) and P. Laslett, The World We Have Lost (Methuen, London, 1961). These approach the question from very different perspectives. Essential reading is E. P. Thompson, The Making of the English Working Class (Penguin, Harmondsworth, 1963). An important study of the concept of industrialism in Western thought is K. Kumar, Prophecy and Progress (Penguin, Harmondsworth, 1978), an excellent introduction to the different meanings attached to it. For the concepts of history and progress in Western thought see also R. G. Collingwood, The Idea of History (Oxford, 1946) and J. B. Bury, The Idea of Progress (Mac millan, London, 1920). C. Liberalism For general books on liberalism Guido de Ruggiero, The History of European Liberalism (OUP, London, 1927) is still hard to better for its detailed discussion of liberal ideas and the different national traditions of liberal thought. Harold Laski, The Rise of European Liberalism (Allen & Unwin, London, 1936) also provides a good historical survey. More recent studies include C. B. Macpherson, The Life and Times of Liberal Democracy (Oxford, 1977), which outlines three different models of democracy that liberals have presented; and David Manning, Liberalism (Dent, London, 1976), which presents liberal ideas from a philosophical standpoint. For the origins of the conception of the state and politics from which liberalism arose, there is the major study by Quentin Skinner, The Foundations of Modem Political Thought (Cambridge, 1978). On specific authors, two very different interpretations of Locke are C. B. Macpherson, The Political Theory of Posses sive Individualism (Oxford, 1962) and John Dunn, The Political Thought of John Locke (Cambridge, 1969). On Hobbes there is Macpherson again, and also H. Warrender, The Political Philosophy of Hobbes (Oxford, 1957) and GUIDE TO FURTHER READING 235 M. Goldsmith, Hobbes' Science of Politics (London, 1966). Two very good recent books on Hegel's political and social thought are S. Avineri, Hegel's Theory of the Modern State (Cambridge, 1972), and R. Plant, Hegel (Allen & Unwin, London, 1973). For Rousseau, G. D. H. Cole's introduction to the Everyman Edition of the Social Contract and the Discourses (Dent, London, 1973) gives a clear summary; so does A. Cobban, Rousseau and the Idea of the Modern State (Allen & Unwin, London, 1974). For Paine, an excellent study of his thought and the context in which he wrote is E. Foner, Tom Paine and Revolutionary America (OUP, New York, 1976). Bentham and the utilitarians are still well served by E. Halevy, The Growth of Philosophic Radicalism (Faber, London, 1928). See also S. R. Letwin, The Pursuit of Cer tainty (Cambridge, 1965). A very good study of the thought of John Stuart Mill is A. Ryan,]. S. Mill (RKP, London, 1974). See also the useful introduction by G. L. Williams to Mill on Politics and Society (Fontana, London, 1976). One of the best brief surveys of liberalism which deserves a special mention is Steven Lukes, Individualism (Blackwell, Oxford, 1973) which analyses the wide range of meanings this central concept has had in different national intellectual traditions. D. Marxism The quality of academic writing on Marx has improved remarkably in the last twenty years. Important general works of interpretation include G. Lichtheim, Marxism (RKP, London, 1961), D. McLellan, Karl Marx: His Life and Thought (Macmillan, London, 1974), S. Avineri, The Social and Political Thought of Karl Marx (Cambridge, 1968), E. Mandel, The Formation of the Economic Thought of Karl Marx (NLB, London, 1971). For the socialist movement as a whole there are two books by G. Lichtheim - A Short History of Socialism (Fontana, London, 1975) and The Origins of Socialism (Weidenfeld, London, 1969). There is also G. D. H. Cole's comprehensive History of Socialist Thought (in many volumes) (Macmillan, London, 1953). The history of anarchist ideas and anarchist movements is well surveyed in G. Woodcock, Anarchism 236 MODERN SOCIAL AND POLITICAL THOUGHT (Penguin, Harmondsworth, 1963). For the Marxist tradition Lichtheim provides a general out line, so, in much greater detail, does L. Kolakowski in Main Currents of Marxism (three volumes) (Oxford, 1978). An important and challenging interpretation of the Marxist tradition is given by Perry Anderson in Considerations on Western Marxism (NLB, London, 1976). The most useful book of all for further study of the Marxist tradition is D. McLellan, Marxism after Marx (Macmillan, London, 1979). It provides comprehensive coverage and very useful biblio graphies on all major Marxist schools since Marx's death. Amongst the great wealth of secondary literature the following can be especially recommended: N. Geras, The Legacy of Rosa Luxemburg (NLB, London, 1976); S. Cohen, Bukharin and the Bolshevik Revolution (Wildwood House, London, 1974); C. Claudin, The Communist Movement; From Comintern to Cominform (Penguin, Harmondsworth, 1975). On Lenin two important books are N. Harding, I.enin s Political Thought (Macmillan, London, 1977), and M. Liebman, Leninism under Lenin (Merlin, London, 1980). On Trotsky, Isaac Deutscher's three volume biography, The Prophet Armed, The Prophet Unarmed, and The Prophet Outcast (Oxford, 1970) is indispensable. For Gramsci, Carl Boggs provides a useful brief introduction to his thought in Gramscis Marxism (Pluto, London, 1976). F or general surveys of the Marxist theory of politics