Perspectives of Governance, Rights,
and Political Philosophy
The works in this collection represent significant contributions to political thought — not an endorsement of their authors or conclusions. Readers will encounter ideas that are dated, flawed, or morally objectionable by contemporary standards. This is intentional. These ideas should be understood within their historical context, which shaped both their insights and their limitations. Understanding how intelligent people have reasoned, for better or for worse, is essential to reasoning well ourselves. Engage critically.
Political Philosophy
Foundational texts examining the nature of rights, justice, liberty, and the individual's relationship to the state. These works span centuries and represent competing visions of how societies should organize power and protect human dignity.
Cover via Open Library (CC0)
A Vindication of the Rights of Woman
Mary Wollstonecraft
Cover via Open Library (CC0)
A Theory of Justice
John Rawls
Cover via Open Library (CC0)
Anarchy, State, and Utopia
Robert Nozick
Cover via Open Library (CC0)
Leviathan
Thomas Hobbes
Cover via Open Library (CC0)
The Origins of Totalitarianism
Hannah Arendt
Cover via Open Library (CC0)
The Republic
Plato
Cover via Open Library (CC0)
Identity and Violence
Amartya Sen
Governance & Institutional Design
Works exploring how institutions shape political outcomes, from constitutional design to the management of shared resources. These texts analyze why some governance structures foster prosperity and liberty while others enable extraction and collapse.
Cover via Open Library (CC0)
Governing the Commons
Elinor Ostrom
Cover via Open Library (CC0)
The Federalist Papers
Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, John Jay
Cover via Open Library (CC0)
The Anti-Federalist Papers
Various Authors
Cover via Open Library (CC0)
Why Nations Fail
Daron Acemoglu, James A. Robinson
Cover via Open Library (CC0)
The Origins of Political Order
Francis Fukuyama
Cover via Open Library (CC0)
Two Concepts of Liberty / Four Essays on Liberty
Isaiah Berlin
Cover via Open Library (CC0)
The Sexual Contract
Carole Pateman
Power, Influence & Manipulation
Examinations of how power operates through media, psychology, and institutional design. These works explore propaganda, cognitive bias, persuasion techniques, and the ways democracies can be manipulated or informed citizens can be cultivated.
Cover via Open Library (CC0)
The Bias That Divides Us
Keith E. Stanovich
Cover via Open Library (CC0)
Manufacturing Consent
Noam Chomsky, Edward S. Herman
Cover via Open Library (CC0)
Thought Reform and the Psychology of Totalism
Robert Jay Lifton
Cover via Open Library (CC0)
Thinking, Fast and Slow
Daniel Kahneman
Cover via Open Library (CC0)
Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion
Robert B. Cialdini
Cover via Open Library (CC0)
The Calculus of Consent
James M. Buchanan, Gordon Tullock
Cover via Open Library (CC0)
Nudge
Richard Thaler, Cass R. Sunstein
Political Economy & Corruption
Works examining how economic systems interact with political power, why some societies develop while others stagnate, and how corruption distorts governance. These texts span free-market, progressive, and feminist perspectives on wealth, inequality, and accountability.
Cover via Open Library (CC0)
Discrimination and Disparities
Thomas Sowell
Cover via Open Library (CC0)
The Price of Inequality
Joseph E. Stiglitz
Cover via Open Library (CC0)
Red Famine
Anne Applebaum
Cover via Open Library (CC0)
Syndromes of Corruption
Michael Johnston
Cover via Open Library (CC0)
If Women Counted
Marilyn Waring
Cover via Open Library (CC0)
Development as Freedom
Amartya Sen
Cover via Open Library (CC0)
A Capitalism for the People
Luigi Zingales
Ethics & Moral Philosophy
Foundational texts in moral reasoning, examining how we should live, what we owe each other, and how to evaluate right and wrong. These works range from Enlightenment foundations to contemporary debates about progress, justice, and human capabilities.
Cover via Open Library (CC0)
Enlightenment Now
Steven Pinker
Cover via Open Library (CC0)
Utilitarianism
John Stuart Mill
Cover via Open Library (CC0)
Justice: What's the Right Thing to Do?
Michael J. Sandel
Cover via Open Library (CC0)
Creating Capabilities
Martha C. Nussbaum
Cover via Open Library (CC0)
The Pivot of Civilization
Margaret Sanger
Cover via Open Library (CC0)
Groundwork of the Metaphysics of Morals
Immanuel Kant
Cover via Open Library (CC0)
A Treatise of Human Nature
David Hume
Civic Engagement & Democratic Participation
Analyses of how citizens participate in democracy, why civic engagement has changed, and how race, representation, and political discourse shape democratic life. These works span left, right, and center perspectives on American democratic health.
Cover via Open Library (CC0)
Black Faces, Black Interests
Carol M. Swain
Cover via Open Library (CC0)
The Content of Our Character
Shelby Steele
Cover via Open Library (CC0)
The Anatomy of Racial Inequality
Glenn C. Loury
Cover via Open Library (CC0)
Bowling Alone
Robert D. Putnam
Cover via Open Library (CC0)
Voice and Equality
Sidney Verba, Kay Lehman Schlozman, Henry E. Brady
Cover via Open Library (CC0)
Diminished Democracy
Theda Skocpol
Cover via Open Library (CC0)
Rights Talk: The Impoverishment of Political Discourse
Mary Ann Glendon
Cover via Open Library (CC0)
The Diversity Delusion
Heather Mac Donald
Cover via Open Library (CC0)
Why Liberalism Failed
Patrick J. Deneen
