A Student's Guide to Political Philosophy: Political Theory Guide (Guides to Major Disciplines)

This book was a great help for me as it made me excited to read more! There is an appendix in the back of Harvey Mansfield’s recommended translations of key texts in political philosophy. It is great if you want to do any independent readings, since it can be hard to pick a good translation or edition. Most of all, it was helpful to have the partisan theme loosely applied to a large selection of profound theorists. Most government/theory classes today are highly politicized, so it helps me, as a student, find more thoughts and comments that help the class discussions move back to political philosophy.

This is a wonderful little book that is like a gem. Should again, be required reading for all students in high school and again in university.

This book is a very short summary of political philosophy. Perhaps it is wrong in assuming that a student would not be able to read about this subject in greater detail. After reading this, though, one will want to know more about political philosophy, why one can be both politically active and philosophical, and why politics is important to students, and not just leftist politics. Also, one wonders which political philosophy the author has, as he seems to comment wryly on both conservatism and liberalism with great acuity. A fine read, if somewhat incomplete.

Well written, concise, and thoughtful overview of Western political philosophy in the context of nature v. history. Mansfield's urging the reader to study the original texts listed in the bibliography rather than discussions by academic professors is much appreciated.

I bought this guide expecting that it would give a brief high-level overview of the main thinkers and ideas in political philosophy. It didn't do that -- it was more of a political philosopher "sampler", rather than an overview which outlines the high points in the intellectual history of the field. The first 10 pages of the ~50 page essay made some good distinctions & definitions, and emphasized that one should read the "great books" of political philosophy (though it doesn't give a list of those books until the appendix). The rest of the essay wasn't as informative, and just touches on some of the ideas of a couple major philosophers (e.g. Machiavelli, Plato, etc.), and tended to be slightly more interpretive than I like to see in an introduction (intro's should be more objective, because a beginner has a hard time distinguishing opinion from fact). Overall, this book only gave me a "feel" for what political philosophy is, without giving a sense of the entire scope of the field, the connections and/or debate between the various schools of thought, or the relative importance of the various thinkers. Granted, it's hard to give a comprehensive overview in 50 pages, but I think the essay could have been structured better. On the plus side, it is a very short essay -- 50 pages, double spaced.

I was very pleased with the time it took to arrive to my place since my order. The book was also in good condition and any faults it had were clearly marked and assessed with an accurate eye on the web page. thanks for a speedy mail! p.s. the price was remarkable!

On time, as described.

It’s a longish brochure. Save your pennies for something worthwhile