Great Political Thinkers: Plato to the Present

by Alan Ebenstein, William Ebenstein

Celebrating its fiftieth year in publication, GREAT POLITICAL THINKERS is an indispensable text for all students of political philosophy. This text contains portions of great works in their original form to whet the appetite and to encourage discussion within the classroom. By providing historical context and current scholarship, Alan Ebenstein builds upon the framework of influences that have shaped current political thoughts and theories.

Genres: Philosophy, Politics, Nonfiction, History, Political Science, Read For School

1024 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1969

About the author

Alan Oliver (Lanny) Ebenstein is an American political scientist, educator and author, known from his biographical works on Friedrich Hayek and Milton Friedman.

Born in Princeton, New Jersey to William Ebenstein (1910-1976), who was also an educator and author, and Ruth Ebenstein. He obtained his BA at the University of California, Santa Barbara in 1982, and his phD at the London School of Economics in 1988.

After his graduation Ebenstein was instructor at the Antioch University from 1990 to 1993, and was director of research at the Arthur N. Rupe Foundation, established by Art Rupe. In 1992 he was Republican nominee at the California State Assembly election, 1992 for the 35th District. From 1990 to 1998 he was member of the Santa Barbara Board of Education. Since 2008 he is lecturer in economic history at the University of California, Santa Barbara. He also became adjunct scholar at the Cato Institute.

In 1988 Ebenstein co-edited the 5th edition of the Great political thinkers: Plato to the present, which was first published in 1952 edited by his father. Since the 1990s he wrote a series of biographies on economists, starting with Edwin Cannan in 1997, and further on Friedrich Hayek in 2001, and Milton Friedman in 2007.

Reviews

[Alok Mishra · Rating 5 out of 5]

First of all, proud to be the owner of one of the oldest hardbound editions of the book! And then, the book introduces to the basics of political thinkers' thought wonderfully and even if you are new to this world of knowledge, you will have ample of the beginners... a must-read book for those who want to know about the political thinking since the beginning to present.

[Patrick Peterson · Rating 2 out of 5]

32021-03-17 This was another of the upper level political theory class texts I had in college. It too was not that helpful or impressive to me. Looking back at the table of contents now, it is probably a fine reference. However, it captured only a little of the libertarian precursors in classical liberalism, laissez faire tradition, and virtually NONE of the passion for freedom.

It ends with a pathetic chapter on Freud! Freud! And just before that the chapter is on "Democratic Socialism, Clement Atlee/Labor Party, Lord Lindsay, Hugh Gaitskell, then Gunnar Myrdal.

Remember, these guys are supposed to be GREAT political thinkers!!!

NOTHING about the rising libertarian/classical liberal/objectivist ideas of people like:
Ludwig Mises, Friedrich Hayek, Ayn Rand, Murray Rothbard, etc., let alone any real understanding of free market economics vs. socialism.

So sad.

I had to discover all those ideas and thinkers from other students and reading and searching on my own.

[Steven R. Kraaijeveld · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful introduction to political philosophy. I find myself reaching back to whenever I'm in need of a reference.

Ebenstein & Ebenstein begin with an introduction to each of the thinkers they present by situating them in an historical context and exposing some of their fundamental ideas. This is important because then, once excerpts from the original texts are presented, the novice reader of political philosophy has a framework in which to place the writings.

There is a selection bias, of course, but this is inescapable when gathering writings for an introduction to a field of thought as diverse and extensive as political philosophy.

[Robert Palmer · Rating 5 out of 5]

I bought this book when I was a student at Tulane University majoring in political science. It was not listed on any course syllabus, but I wanted to read it anyway. Over the more than three decades since that time, I have read and re-read this book. I recommend this book to anyone who wants a good anthology of essays on political theory.

[Marifi · Rating 5 out of 5]

The holy book for political science. Gone through this back in college. I so wanted to read this over and over again, only that I don't have a copy right now. The local library don't have a copy...:(

[Bebe Burnside · Rating 3 out of 5]

A great way to get exposure to many of the political thinkers from Thomas Aquanis to Maceavelli, they are all in this book.

[Michele Dale · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is a good book and very helpful in understanding a lot of ideas that have influenced our current culture. It is a tough read and I found that I really needed extra support to read this cover to cover. Oliver DeMille's Blackbelt in Freedom helped me gain quite a bit more than I would have gained by just reading this book.

**rating - I don't really rate books in the 4-5 category unless I have read them several times.

[Saloni Ranjan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a very nice book for all the readers who want to understand about political thoughts from the beginning and its evolution with time. You will enjoy it.

[Diego Rodriguez · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read it as a school requirement, and if you've seen the book, damn it is long. But on the bright side, it gets your mind going. It gets you thinking critically about things, analyzing the times now compared to before. It's a good source on trying to find out why our politics today is so.

[Julie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Although written in the bias of William and Alan Ebenstein, this textbook is informative as an all-encompassing view of the history of politics.

[Cxtian]

good for polsci student

[Hümeyra]

ismet özel çevirisiyle okuyun.