Philosophy and Revolution: A Research Guide: Catalog, Databases and Resources

The Enlightenment

Presents on overview of the major figures, events, and concepts of the Enlightenment along with nine documents from the era, including John Locke's "Some Thoughts concerning Education" and Voltaire's "Letters concerning the English Nation.".

Second Treatise of Government

Locke's arguments for limited, conditional government, private property, and right of revolution.

Adam Smith

Examines the work of eighteenth-century British economist Adam Smith, discussing his views on Britain's evolving political institutions, the decline in the church, the strengthening of human sympathy, and the implications of various social, economic, and cultural developments.

The Enlightenment

Discusses the historical movement that emphasized the truth through empiricism, and explores the background of Enlightenment and its relation to natural philosophy, church institutions, society, political thought, the state, and the French Revolution, with biographical sketches, excerpts from important documents, and a bibliography.

The Major Political Writings of Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Progressive and reactionary. Since the eighteenth century, Jean-Jacques Rousseau has been called all of these things. Few philosophers have been the subject of such intense debate, yet almost everyone agrees that Rousseau is among the most important political thinkers in history. Renowned Rousseau scholar John T. Scott highlights his enduring influence with this superb new edition of his major political writings.

Voltaire

Chronicles the life of Voltaire, discussing his childhood, imprisonment in the Bastille, exile in England, obsession with money, scandalous love life, human rights campaigns, writings, and other related topics.

The Communist Manifesto

Contains the text of the manifesto, published in 1848 as the platform of the Communist League, a working men's association; and includes an introduction that traces the history of the document and discusses its relevance to the modern world.

Capital

An abridged edition of Karl Marx's nineteenth-century denouncement of mid-Victorian capitalist society, with an introduction, Marx's footnotes, explanatory notes, and other reference materials.

Marx's General

Presents a biographical discussion of German social scientist and philosophy Friedrich Engels, examining his personal life in light of his radical politics and close association with Karl Marx.

Lenin

Brought up in comfort and with a passion for hunting and fishing, chess, and the English classics, Lenin was radicalized after the execution of his brother in 1887. Sebestyen traces the story from Lenin's early years to his long exile in Europe and return to Petrograd in 1917 to lead the first Communist revolution in history.

Postcolonialism

Offers a brief overview of postcolonialism, examining the political, social, and cultural after-effects of decolonization.

Sasha and Emma

This dual biography covers the lives of Emma Goldman and Alexander Berkman and their lasting influence on the anarchist movement they helped shape.

Life of an Anarchist

Chronicles the life of twentieth-century American revolutionary Alexander Berkman, discussing how he was willing to go to extremes on behalf of justice and civil rights.

The Art of Rhetoric

A translation of Aristotle's "The Art of Rhetoric", which establishes the methods of informal reasoning and explores the link between character and emotion.

From Humanism to Hobbes

The aim of this collection is to illustrate the pervasive influence of humanist rhetoric on early-modern literature and philosophy. The first half of the book focuses on the classical rules of judicial rhetoric. One chapter considers the place of these rules in Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice, while two others concentrate on the technique of rhetorical redescription, pointing to its use in Machiavelli's The Prince as well as in several of Shakespeare's plays, notably Coriolanus. The second half of the book examines the humanist background to the philosophy of Thomas Hobbes.

Atlas Shrugged

Presents biographical information on twentieth-century American author Ayn Rand and examines her novel, "Atlas Shrugged," including its plot, characters, themes, historical context, influence, and critical reception; also includes a Rand chronology and a selected bibliography.

Undoing Gender

"Judith Butler's ... reflections on gender and sexuality, focusing on new kinship, psychoanalysis and the incest taboo, transgender, intersex, diagnostic categories, social violence and the tasks of social transformation ... Butler considers the norms that govern -- and fail to govern -- gender and sexuality as they relate to the constraints on recognizable personhood"

Gender Trouble

Analyzes the meaning of gender focusing especially on females. Includes topics on the production of the heterosexual matrix, strategies of masquerade, Freud and the melancholia of gender, as well as subversive bodily acts.

The Second Sex

An unbridged version of Beauvoir's feminist exploration of the psychological, sexual and social roles of women and their historical and contemporary situation in Western culture at the middle of the twentieth century. 

The Unfinished Revolution

Chronicles the life and career of Yat-sen Sun, discussing his childhood, family, and the accomplishments of his presidency during China's quest to become more modern early in the nineteenth-century.

Foucault

Paul Veyne offers a portrait of his friend Michael Foucault and describes his ideas and legacy.