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...

Love and marriage and coming to terms with the mate one has chosen are examined in this comedy of cross purposes when a father stipulates that his elder, and shrewish daughter, must be married before the younger.

The classic guide to oratorical skill offers discussion of the methods of informal reasoning, an aesthetic evaluation of prose style, and observations on the emotions and character.

This book is a unique biography of George Washington inspired by the maps he used throughout his life--offering new insight into the historic events of his era. From his teens until his death, the maps George Washington drew and purchased were always central to his work as a surveyor, military leader, private citizen, and statesman. After his death, many of the most important maps he had acquired were bound into an atlas. The atlas remained in his...

The Dialogues of Plato, written between 427 and 347 b.c., rank among the most important and influential works in Western thought. Most famous are the first four, in which Plato casts his teacher Socrates as the central disputant in colloquies that brilliantly probe a vast spectrum of philosophical ideas and issues. Socrates' ancient words are still true, and the ideas found in Plato's Dialogues still form the foundation of a thinking person's education....

In 'Heaven and Hell,' Swedenborg gives the reader a detailed description of the afterlife. He deals with God, heaven, hell, angels, spirits, and devils; and he addresses the issues of who is in heaven and hell. Are there any Jews, Muslims, and people of pre-Christian times such as pagan Romans and Greeks in heaven? He posits that the love of self or of the world drives one towards hell, and love of God and fellow men towards heaven. Here is the most...

Collects several works covering a variety of political subjects, including independence from Britain for the American colonies, service in the Continental army, and the French Revolution.

Written over a span of twenty years, "Of Plymouth Plantation" is the authoritative account of the founding of the Plymouth Colony in Massachusetts by its leader William Bradford. The journal, here translated into modern English by Harold Paget in 1920, was begun by Bradford in 1630 and tells the story of the Pilgrims from their 1608 settlement in the Dutch Republic in Europe, through their voyage in 1620 aboard the "Mayflower" to the New World, and...