| Essential Ideas
Discussions become interesting when participants are aware of earlier thinking on the subject. We've put together a modest list of books and articles we think are major contributions in important areas of thought. For most books, we list one edition of the work—usually the best established. If a work has been published by several publishers and there are several good editions of it available, we do not list any single publisher or edition. In these cases, we give only the date of first publication. The lists are arranged alphabetically by author.
| | Synopses of sections | |
International Relations
Concepts of international relations, both idealistic and realistic, that shape our thinking about world politics today.
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Politics
Books on politics that have had a lasting effect on the thought of subsequent generations. We start with the ancient Greeks and end with John Rawls' ideas on justice.
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Economics
A tour of the ideas that have shaped thinking in economics and political economy. From Vico, through Adam Smith and Karl Marx, and down to Milton Friedman and Amartya Sen.
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Culture and Society
Essential ideas about the individual in the modern industrial and consumer society. Subjects range from the effect of mass culture and media to ways of seeing and thinking.
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