Choice Review

Hampsher-Monk intends this book as a guide for readers who peruse the original texts of the writers he covers. These include Hobbes, Locke, Hume, Rousseau, "Publius," Burke, Bentham, J.S. Mill, Hegel, and Marx. Hampsher-Monk attends to historical context and to contemporary influences on the authors he treats, while simultaneously stressing the coherence of each author's achievement and the preoccupations of current research on them. He exhibits particular sensitivity to religious context and religious influences. This is evident in his discussion of motivation in Hobbes, in his treatment of Locke and of Locke's response to Filmer, in his remarks on the connections between church and state in Burke's writings, and in his provocative discussion of parallels in Marx between, respectively, religious ideals versus sinful behavior, on the one hand, and political ideals versus exploitative policies, on the other. This book should prove useful both to students of the texts discussed and to general readers who seek further background as to the relationship between historical contexts and specific theories. General through faculty collections. E. R. Gill; Bradley University