Man and the State: The Political Philosophers

A good collection of political writings spanning from Hobbes to Marx. Hobbes and Locke lay down a nice foundation for what follows. “On Liberty” remains a personal favorite for me and very applicable to today. This is the second time I’ve read it and I can’t recommend it enough. Adam Smith was very informative and readable, but not necessarily political. Hegel was an incomprehensible word salad. “The Communist Manifesto” was okay in the early bit when he talked about all the awesome stuff the bourgeoisie created, but descends into hateful, envious and downright evil garbage pretty quickly. I can’t believe people buy in to Marx. He is awful.