Harrington: 'The Commonwealth of Oceana' and 'A System of Politics'

This 1992 volume explores the the life and pivotal career of James Harrington.

James Harrington (Author), J. G. A. Pocock (Edited by)

9780521423298, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 20 August 1992

332 pages
21.6 x 14 x 1.9 cm, 0.42 kg

James Harrington's brief career as a political and historical theorist spans the last years of the Cromwellian Protectorate and the Restoration of 1660. This 1992 volume comprises the first and last of Harrington's writings. Harrington was the first theorist to interpret the English Civil Wars as a revolution, the result of a long-term process of social change which led to the decay of the old political order. The Commonwealth of Oceana (1656) is a fictionalised presentation of English history up to the victory of the New Model Army, explaining the fall of the monarchy and proposing a republic to replace it. A System of Politics, written after the Restoration, is a scheme of history and political philosophy erected on the foundations of his previous works. Professor Pocock's introduction emphasises Harrington's place as a pivotal figure in the history of English political thought. This edition also contains a chronology of events in Harrington's life and a guide to further reading.

Preface
Introduction
Chronology
Bibliography
The Commonwealth of Oceana
A System of Politics
Index.

Subject Areas: History of ideas [JFCX]