This clear and thorough introduction provides students with the skills necessary to understand the main thinkers, texts and arguments of political philosophy and thought. Each chapter comprises a brief overview of a major political thinker, followed by an introduction to one or more of their most influential works and an introduction to key secondary readings.

Key features include:

* exercises

* reading notes

* guides for further reading

The book introduces and assesses: Machiavelli's Prince; Hobbes' Leviathan; Locke's Second Treatise on Government; Rousseau's Social Contract; Marx and Engels' German Ideology (Part 1)

Mill's On Liberty and The Subjection of Women. Reading Political Philosophy requires no previous knowledge of philosophy or politics and is ideal for newcomers to political philosophy and political thought.