Describes how a small and quarrelsome band of Greek city states united to repel the might of the Persian empire. Frequently giving rise to colorful digressions, this book blends fact and legend to offer a compelling Greek view of the world of the fifth century BC.

Presented in the form of a dialogue between Socrates and three different interlocutors, Republic is an enquiry into the notion of a perfect community and the ideal individual within it. This work addresses the purpose of education and the role of both women and men as 'guardians' of the people.

The Leviathan is the vast unity of the State. But the resurgence of interest in Leviathan is due less to its answers than its methods. This book intends to see politics as a science capable of the same axiomatic approach as geometry. It argues from first principles to human nature to politics.

'Over himself, over his own body and mind, the individual is sovereign'. This title includes an essay that dedicated to this 'one very simple principle'. It records responses to the author's books and comments on his fear of 'the tyranny of the majority'.

Features the central principles of what is broadly known as political liberalism.

Freud's epoch-making insights revolutionized our perception of the self, forming the foundation for psychoanalysis; here he presents his theory of an innate 'death drive' - arguing that civilisation distorts natural aggression to impose a terrible burden of guilt upon us.