The Second Treatise of Government is one of the most important political treatises ever written and one of the most far-reaching in its influence. In this profound work, John Locke explores the principles of limited, conditional government, the concept of private property, and the right of revolution. These ideas have resonated through time, providing a foundation for modern political thought.
In his provocative introduction to this edition, the eminent political theorist C. B. Macpherson examines Locke's arguments and suggests reasons for their enduring appeal. The text remains a cornerstone in understanding the development of political liberalism and continues to influence contemporary discussions on governance and individual rights.
Chris Mechling's new historical novel, Peter, introduces readers to the amazing true story behind the fairy tale of Peter Pan. The book tells the adventures of the real boy who came to London and became a well-known figure more than a hundred years before James Barrie penned his classic.
Peter the Wild Boy lived in eighteenth century England, through the reigns of three kings (all named George), and achieved legendary status in his own lifetime. He was not only a popular figure, but also drew intense philosophical and scientific study, and was a subject of interest to literary figures such as Daniel Defoe and Jonathan Swift.
Peter retained a youthful appearance throughout his life and had a joyful, intuitive spirit that was both challenging and infectious. This imaginative dramatization of the life of Peter the Wild Boy captures the joy, innocence, and fire of a bright, feral child living in the midst of the Age of Enlightenment. It is narrated by the girl who perhaps knew him best.
The epic story of his life, spanning approximately seventy years, navigates a tumultuous and thoughtful period in English history, rich with characters. Peter is a magical, poignant tale full of humor, love, and courage in the face of life's difficulties. It will make you laugh, cry, dream, and remember what it means to be young.
Measuring the World is a brilliant and gently comic novel by young Austrian writer Daniel Kehlmann that conjures the lives of two geniuses of the Enlightenment.
Toward the end of the eighteenth century, two young Germans set out to measure the world. One of them, the Prussian aristocrat Alexander von Humboldt, negotiates savanna and jungle, travels down the Orinoco, tastes poisons, climbs the highest mountain known to man, counts head lice, and explores every hole in the ground. The other, the barely socialized mathematician and astronomer Carl Friedrich Gauss, does not even need to leave his home in Göttingen to prove that space is curved. He can run prime numbers in his head and cannot imagine a life without women, yet he jumps out of bed on his wedding night to jot down a mathematical formula.
Von Humboldt is known to history as the Second Columbus. Gauss is recognized as the greatest mathematical brain since Newton. Terrifyingly famous and more than eccentric in their old age, the two meet in Berlin in 1828. Gauss has hardly climbed out of his carriage before both men are embroiled in the political turmoil sweeping through Germany after Napoleon’s fall.