Edmund Burke's "Reflections on the Revolution in France" is considered by many to be a masterpiece of political analysis and a compelling rationale against the French Revolution. Originally written as a letter in response to a young Parisian and later expanded upon and published in book format in January 1790, the work has greatly influenced conservative and classic liberal intellectuals and stands as a powerful argument against violent revolutions,...

Victorian poet and critic Matthew Arnold wrote the essays that constitute Culture and Anarchy between 1867 and 1869, a time of rapid social change and uncertainty. Defining culture as "the best that has been thought and said," Arnold offers concrete suggestions for its role as a corrective to the chaos of materialism, industrialism, and self-interest. Acclaimed by Commentary as "the classic defense of high culture against the depredations of modernity,"...

John Ruskin's Sesame and Lilies, first published in 1865, stands as a classic nineteenth-century statement on the natures and duties of men and women. Although widely popular in its time, the work in its entirety has been out of print since the early twentieth century. This volume returns Sesame and Lilies to easy availability and reunites the two halves of the work: Of Kings' Treasuries, in which Ruskin critiques Victorian manhood, and Of Queens'...

First published anonymously in December 1689, John Locke's "Two Treatises of Government" are considered to be some of the most important works of political philosophy ever written. In the first treatise, Locke disputes the divine right of monarchial rule principle that is put forth in the book "Patriarcha" by Sir Robert Filmer. The first treatise is in fact a sentence by sentence refutation of "Patriarcha." Filmer asserts the idea that absolute authority...