Focusing on the historical context in which political theorists have developed their thinking, this textbook provides an invaluable introduction to students of political thought. The authors address a series of canonical major thinkers in the context of three world-changing epochs: the English, French and Industrial revolutions. The theorists' ideas are assessed with reference to the politics of their time and show how they responded to, or interacted with, the political events and issues of their day.

Chris Sparks, whose previous titles include Montesquieu's Vision: Uncertainty and Modernity and Uncertainty and Identity: The Enlightenment and its Shadows, currently lectures in sociology and politics at the Institute of Technology, Sligo and is Visiting Research Associate at the Centre for the Study of Democracy, University of Westminster.

Stuart Isaacs, whose research interests include classical and contemporary political thought, is senior lecturer in social policy and sociology at London Metropolitan University.

1. Introduction Part 1: The English Civil War 2. Milton 3. Thomas Hobbes 4. Levellers and Diggers 5. Locke Part 2: Reason and Revolution 6. Montesquieu 7. Jean-Jacques Rousseau 8. The Federal Papers 9. Burke and Paine Part 3: The Industrial Era 10. John Stuart Mill 11. Marx 12. Bakunin Kropotkin and Proudhon 13. Conclusion