The Prince Niccolò Machiavelli http://www.feedbooks.com/book/94 urn:isbn:0553212788 en 1513 Non-Fiction Philosophy War Politics Il Principe (The Prince) is a political treatise by the Florentine public servant and political theorist Niccolò Machiavelli. Originally called De Principatibus (About Principalities), it was written in 1513, but not published until 1532, five years after Machiavelli's death. The treatise is not representative of the work published during his lifetime, but it is the most remembered, and the work responsible for bringing "Machiavellian" into wide usage as a pejorative term. It has also been suggested by some critics that the piece is, in fact, a satire. http://www.feedbooks.com/book/94.png http://www.feedbooks.com/book/94.pdf http://www.feedbooks.com/book/94.epub http://www.feedbooks.com/book/94.mobi Declaration of Independence Thomas Jefferson http://www.feedbooks.com/book/2675 urn:isbn:B00146LZ1C en 1776 Non-Fiction Essay Politics The United States Declaration of Independence is a statement adopted by the Continental Congress on July 4, 1776, announcing that the thirteen American colonies then at war with Great Britain were no longer a part of the British Empire. Written primarily by Thomas Jefferson, the Declaration is a formal explanation of why Congress had voted on July 2 to declare independence from Great Britain, more than a year after the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War. The birthday of the United States of America—Independence Day—is celebrated on July 4, the day the wording of the Declaration was approved by Congress. http://www.feedbooks.com/book/2675.png http://www.feedbooks.com/book/2675.pdf http://www.feedbooks.com/book/2675.epub http://www.feedbooks.com/book/2675.mobi Manifesto of the Communist Party Karl Marx Friedrich Engels http://www.feedbooks.com/book/209 urn:isbn:0192834371 en 1848 Non-Fiction Politics Manifesto of the Communist Party (German: Manifest der Kommunistischen Partei), often referred to as The Communist Manifesto, was first published on February 21, 1848, and is one of the world's most influential political manuscripts. Commissioned by the Communist League and written by communist theorists Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, it laid out the League's purposes and program. The Manifesto suggested a course of action for a proletarian (working class) revolution to overthrow the bourgeois social order and to eventually bring about a classless and stateless society, and the abolition of private property. http://www.feedbooks.com/book/209.png http://www.feedbooks.com/book/209.pdf http://www.feedbooks.com/book/209.epub http://www.feedbooks.com/book/209.mobi An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations Adam Smith http://feedbooks.com/book/210 urn:isbn:0679783369 en 1776 Non-Fiction Science Politics Adam Smith's masterpiece, first published in 1776, is the foundation of modern economic thought and remains the single most important account of the rise of, and the principles behind, modern capitalism. Written in clear and incisive prose, The Wealth of Nations articulates the concepts indispensable to an understanding of contemporary society. http://feedbooks.com/book/210.png http://feedbooks.com/book/210.pdf http://feedbooks.com/book/210.epub http://feedbooks.com/book/210.mobi Common Sense Thomas Paine http://feedbooks.com/book/2850 urn:isbn:0486296024 en 1776 Non-Fiction Essay Politics Enormously popular and widely read pamphlet, first published in January of 1776, clearly and persuasively argues for American separation from Great Britain and paves the way for the Declaration of Independence. This highly influential landmark document attacks the monarchy, cites the evils of government and combines idealism with practical economic concerns. http://feedbooks.com/book/2850.png http://feedbooks.com/book/2850.pdf http://feedbooks.com/book/2850.epub http://feedbooks.com/book/2850.mobi On the Duty of Civil Disobedience Henry David Thoreau http://feedbooks.com/book/219 urn:isbn:1604244291 en 1849 Non-Fiction Essay Politics Thoreau wrote his famous essay, On the Duty of Civil Disobedience, as a protest against an unjust but popular war and the immoral but popular institution of slave-owning. http://feedbooks.com/book/219.png http://feedbooks.com/book/219.pdf http://feedbooks.com/book/219.epub http://feedbooks.com/book/219.mobi The Federalist Papers Publius http://feedbooks.com/book/2674 urn:isbn:1596052473 en 1787 Non-Fiction History Essay Politics The Federalist Papers are a series of 85 articles advocating the ratification of the United States Constitution. Seventy-seven of the essays were published serially in The Independent Journal and The New York Packet between October 1787 and August 1788. A compilation of these and eight others, called The Federalist, was published in 1788 by J. and A. McLean. The Federalist Papers serve as a primary source for interpretation of the Constitution, as they outline the philosophy and motivation of the proposed system of government. The authors of the Federalist Papers wanted to both influence the vote in favor of ratification and shape future interpretations of the Constitution. According to historian Richard B. Morris, they are an "incomparable exposition of the Constitution, a classic in political science unsurpassed in both breadth and depth by the product of any later American writer." http://feedbooks.com/book/2674.png http://feedbooks.com/book/2674.pdf http://feedbooks.com/book/2674.epub http://feedbooks.com/book/2674.mobi Walden Henry David Thoreau http://feedbooks.com/book/3914 urn:isbn:0807014257 en 1854 Non-Fiction Philosophy Essay Biography Politics Walden (also known as Life in the Woods) by Henry David Thoreau is one of the best-known non-fiction books written by an American. Published in 1854, it details Thoreau's life for two years and two months in second-growth forest around the shores of Walden Pond, not far from his friends and family in Concord, Massachusetts. Walden was written so that the stay appears to be a year, with expressed seasonal divisions. Thoreau called it an experiment in simple living. Walden is neither a novel nor a true autobiography, but a social critique of the Western World, with each chapter heralding some aspect of humanity that needed to be either renounced or praised. The work is part personal declaration of independence, social experiment, voyage of spiritual discovery, and manual for self reliance. (from Wikipedia) http://feedbooks.com/book/3914.png http://feedbooks.com/book/3914.pdf http://feedbooks.com/book/3914.epub http://feedbooks.com/book/3914.mobi Kidnapped Robert Louis Stevenson http://feedbooks.com/book/3578 urn:isbn:0141441798 en 1886 Novels History Adventure Politics Being memoirs of the adventures of David Balfour in the year 1751: how he was kidnapped and cast away; his sufferings in a desert isle; his journey in the wild highlands; his acquaintance with Alan Breck Stewart and other notorious highland Jacobites; with all that he suffered at the hands of his uncle, Ebenezer Balfour of Shaws, falsely so called. http://feedbooks.com/book/3578.png http://feedbooks.com/book/3578.pdf http://feedbooks.com/book/3578.epub http://feedbooks.com/book/3578.mobi The Jungle Upton Sinclair http://feedbooks.com/book/3384 en 1906 Novels Politics The Jungle is a 1906 novel written by author and socialist journalist Upton Sinclair. It was written about the corruption of the American meatpacking industry during the early 20th century. The novel depicts in harsh tones the poverty, absence of social programs, unpleasant living and working conditions, and hopelessness prevalent among the "have-nots", which is contrasted with the deeply rooted corruption on the part of the "haves". The sad state of turn-of-the-century labor is placed front and center for the American public to see, suggesting that something needed to be changed to get rid of American "wage slavery". The novel is also an important example of the "muckraking" tradition begun by journalists such as Jacob Riis. Sinclair wanted to persuade his readers that the mainstream American political parties offered little means for progressive change. Upton Sinclair came to Chicago with the intent of writing The Jungle; he had been given a stipend by the socialist newspaper The Appeal to Reason. Upon his arrival in the lobby of the Chicago Transit House, a hotel near the stockyards, he was quoted as saying, "Hello! I'm Upton Sinclair, and I'm here to write the Uncle Tom's Cabin of the Labor Movement!" (Arthur, 43). He rented living quarters and immediately immersed himself in the city by walking its streets, talking to its people, and taking pictures. One Sunday afternoon, he worked his way into a group of Asian immigrants getting together for a wedding party – "Behold, there was the opening scene of my story, a gift from the gods". He was welcomed to the festivities and stayed until two o'clock in the morning. The novel was first published in serial form in 1906 by The Appeal to Reason. "After five rejections", its first edition as a novel was published by Doubleday, Page & Company on February 28, 1906, and it became an immediate bestseller. It has been in print ever since. Source: Wikipedia This work was published before 1923 and is in the public domain in the USA only. http://feedbooks.com/book/3384.png http://feedbooks.com/book/3384.pdf http://feedbooks.com/book/3384.epub http://feedbooks.com/book/3384.mobi It Can't Happen Here Sinclair Lewis http://www.feedbooks.com/book/3659 urn:isbn:045121658X en 1935 Novels Humor/Satire Politics It Can't Happen Here is a semi-satirical political novel by Sinclair Lewis published in 1935. It features newspaperman Doremus Jessup struggling against the fascist regime of President Berzelius "Buzz" Windrip, who resembles Gerald B. Winrod, the Kansas evangelist whose far-right views earned him the nickname "The Jayhawk Nazi". It serves as a warning that political movements akin to Nazism can come to power in countries such as the United States when people blindly support their leaders. This work is available for countries where copyright is Life+50. http://www.feedbooks.com/book/3659.png http://www.feedbooks.com/book/3659.pdf http://www.feedbooks.com/book/3659.epub http://www.feedbooks.com/book/3659.mobi The Iron Heel Jack London http://www.feedbooks.com/book/2381 en 1908 Novels Science Fiction Politics The Iron Heel is a dystopian novel by American writer Jack London, first published in 1908. Generally considered to be "the earliest of the modern Dystopian," it chronicles the rise of an oligarchic tyranny in the United States. It is arguably the novel in which Jack London's socialist views are most explicitly on display. A forerunner of soft science fiction novels and stories of the 1960s and 1970s, the book stresses future changes in society and politics while paying much less attention to technological changes. This work is available for countries where copyright is Life+70 and in the USA. http://www.feedbooks.com/book/2381.png http://www.feedbooks.com/book/2381.pdf http://www.feedbooks.com/book/2381.epub http://www.feedbooks.com/book/2381.mobi A Modern Utopia H. G. Wells http://www.feedbooks.com/book/4183 en 1905 Novels Philosophy Science Fiction Politics In A Modern Utopia, two travelers fall into a space-warp and suddenly find themselves upon a Utopian Earth controlled by a single World Government. This work is available for countries where copyright is Life+50 or in the USA (published before 1923). http://www.feedbooks.com/book/4183.png http://www.feedbooks.com/book/4183.pdf http://www.feedbooks.com/book/4183.epub http://www.feedbooks.com/book/4183.mobi Eugenics and Other Evils Gilbert Keith Chesterton http://www.feedbooks.com/book/3719 urn:isbn:1587420023 en 1922 Philosophy Essay Science Collections Politics From the introduction: "I publish these essays at the present time for a particular reason connected with the present situation; a reason which I should like briefly to emphasise and make clear. Though most of the conclusions, especially towards the end, are conceived with reference to recent events, the actual bulk of preliminary notes about the science of Eugenics were written before the war.[...]" This work is available for countries where copyright is Life+70 and in the USA. http://www.feedbooks.com/book/3719.png http://www.feedbooks.com/book/3719.pdf http://www.feedbooks.com/book/3719.epub http://www.feedbooks.com/book/3719.mobi The Code of Hammurabi Hammurabi http://www.feedbooks.com/book/4239 en -1790 Non-Fiction History Politics The Code of Hammurabi (Codex Hammurabi) is a well-preserved ancient law code, created ca. 1790 BC (middle chronology) in ancient Babylon. It was enacted by the sixth Babylonian king, Hammurabi. One nearly complete example of the Code survives today, inscribed on a seven foot, four inch tall basalt stele in the Akkadian language in the cuneiform script. One of the first written codes of law in recorded history. These laws were written on a stone tablet standing over eight feet tall (2.4 meters) that was found in 1901. http://www.feedbooks.com/book/4239.png http://www.feedbooks.com/book/4239.pdf http://www.feedbooks.com/book/4239.epub http://www.feedbooks.com/book/4239.mobi The Law Frédéric Bastiat http://www.feedbooks.com/book/2770 urn:isbn:9562910113 en 1849 Non-Fiction Essay Politics The Law, original French title La Loi, is a 1849 book by Frédéric Bastiat. It was published one year after the third French Revolution of 1848 and one year before his death of tuberculosis at age 49. The essay was influenced by John Locke's Second Treatise on Government and in turn influenced Henry Hazlitt's Economics in One Lesson. It is the work for which Bastiat is most famous along with The candlemaker's petition and the Parable of the broken window. In The Law, Bastiat states that "each of us has a natural right — from God — to defend his person, his liberty, and his property". The State is a "substitution of a common force for individual forces" to defend this right. The law becomes perverted when it punishes one's right to self-defense in favor of another's acquired right to plunder. http://www.feedbooks.com/book/2770.png http://www.feedbooks.com/book/2770.pdf http://www.feedbooks.com/book/2770.epub http://www.feedbooks.com/book/2770.mobi The Napoleon of Notting Hill Gilbert Keith Chesterton http://www.feedbooks.com/book/3683 urn:isbn:0955519624 en 1904 Novels Humor/Satire Politics The Napoleon of Notting Hill is a novel written by G. K. Chesterton in 1904, set in a nearly-unchanged London in 1984. Though the novel deals with the future, it concentrates not on technology nor on totalitarian government but on a government where no one cares what happens, comparable to Fahrenheit 451 in that respect. The dreary succession of randomly selected Kings of England is broken up when Auberon Quin, who cares for nothing but a good joke, is chosen. To amuse himself, he institutes elaborate costumes for the provosts of the districts of London. All are bored by the King's antics except for one earnest young man who takes the cry for regional pride seriously – Adam Wayne, the eponymous Napoleon of Notting Hill. While the novel is humorous (one instance has the King sitting on top of an omnibus and speaking to it as to a horse: "Forward, my beauty, my Arab," he said, patting the omnibus encouragingly, "fleetest of all thy bounding tribe"), it is also an adventure story: Chesterton is not afraid to let blood be drawn in his battles, fought with sword and halberd in the London streets, and Wayne thinks up a few ingenious strategies; and, finally, the novel is philosophical, considering the value of one man's actions and the virtue of respect for one's enemies. This work is available for countries where copyright is Life+70 and in the USA. http://www.feedbooks.com/book/3683.png http://www.feedbooks.com/book/3683.pdf http://www.feedbooks.com/book/3683.epub http://www.feedbooks.com/book/3683.mobi Herland Charlotte Perkins Gilman http://feedbooks.com/book/3610 urn:isbn:0451525620 en 1915 Novels Sexuality Humor/Satire Politics Herland is a utopian novel from 1915, written by feminist Charlotte Perkins Gilman. The book describes an isolated society composed entirely of women who reproduce via parthenogenesis (asexual reproduction). The result is an ideal social order, free of war, conflict and domination. This work is available for countries where copyright is Life+70 and in the USA. http://feedbooks.com/book/3610.png http://feedbooks.com/book/3610.pdf http://feedbooks.com/book/3610.epub http://feedbooks.com/book/3610.mobi Equality Edward Bellamy http://www.feedbooks.com/book/824 urn:isbn:1410100383 en 1897 Novels Science Fiction Politics The sequel to Bellamy's Looking Backward, his utopian novel of several years earlier, where a young man falls asleep in 1887 and wakes in a utopian year 2000, where all social ills are solved. This novel continues the thread of his utopian vision. Equality begins when Julian West returns to the year 2000 to continue his education. The book describes an ideal society in that year. Equality was published just before his death and was not received nearly as well as Looking Backward. Bellamy was born in 1850 in Chicopee Falls, Massachusetts. As a young man he studied law and entered the bar, but never practiced. He was a journalist and social theorist as well as a novelist. Bellamy's theory of public capitalism would greatly affect American political thought in the 20th century. http://www.feedbooks.com/book/824.png http://www.feedbooks.com/book/824.pdf http://www.feedbooks.com/book/824.epub http://www.feedbooks.com/book/824.mobi The Articles of Confederation Benjamin Franklin http://www.feedbooks.com/book/4053 en 1781 Non-Fiction Politics The Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union, commonly referred to as the Articles of Confederation, was the first constitution of the thirteen United States of America. The Second Continental Congress appointed a committee to draft the 'Articles' in June 1776 and proposed the draft to the States for ratification in November 1777. The ratification process was completed in March 1781, legally federating the sovereign and independent states, allied under the Articles of Association, into a new federation styled the "United States of America". Under the Articles the states retained sovereignty over all governmental functions not specifically relinquished to the central government. http://www.feedbooks.com/book/4053.png http://www.feedbooks.com/book/4053.pdf http://www.feedbooks.com/book/4053.epub http://www.feedbooks.com/book/4053.mobi