By Donald H. Young – Laws are fundamental to the concept of society, and the principal differences among all societies are in the laws by which they function. By the 18th century, concepts of individual rights and laws to protect them were being developed. David Hume wrote A Treatise Of Human Nature in 1739, and John Locke in his Second Treatise On Government said that all men are endowed by a supreme being with natural rights which include life, liberty, and property and that governments are instituted for the purpose of protecting and advancing those rights Read More
Book Reviews
The book summaries are a mix of interpretations, paraphrases of the author’s language, and direct quotes from the book (without quotation marks). One purpose of the summaries is to summarize the author’s main ideas so that if interested you can order the book. Another purpose of the summaries is to survey some of the most important and soundest ideas in government structure, political philosophy, history, and economics to give a rough idea of how they all fit together. These may not be the best books in each category but all are excellent and deal with extremely important subjects in a very thoughtful manner. A few of the best, and best known, books on many of these subjects are listed in a separate section.