Citizens to Lords: A Social History of Western Political Thought from Antiquity to the Middle Ages | 
 enlarge | Author: Ellen Meiksins Wood
Publisher: Verso
Category: Book
List Price: $29.95
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Avg. Customer Rating:  2 reviews
Sales Rank: 277639
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 336
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.2
Dimensions (in): 9.3 x 6.4 x 1.1
ISBN: 1844672433
Dewey Decimal Number: 320.01109
EAN: 9781844672431
ASIN: 1844672433
Publication Date: June 9, 2008
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Product Description
A major new history of Western political thought as it evolved through conflict and communities.
In this groundbreaking work, Ellen Meiksins Wood lays out her innovative approach to the history of political theory and traces the development of the Western tradition from classical antiquity through the late Middle Ages. Her "social history" is a significant departure from other contextual interpretations. Treating canonical thinkers as passionately engaged human beings, Wood examines their ideas not simply in the context of political languages but as creative responses to the social relations and conflicts of their time and place. From the Ancient Greek polis of Plato and Aristotle, through the Roman Republic of Cicero and the Empire of St. Paul and St. Augustine, to the medieval world of Averroes, Thomas Aquinas and William of Ockham, Citizens to Lord offers a rich, dynamic exploration of thinkers and ideas that have indelibly stamped our modern world.
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 Would make for good discussion for many a college political philosophy class October 9, 2008
What if what we know about history is wrong? "Citizens to Lords: A Social History of Western Political Thought from Antiquity to the Middle Ages" seeks to give a new explanation to how mankind views its past thinkers. Offering new views of thinkers from Socrates, St. Augustine, and many others, this examination of ancient political minds is fresh and food for thought. "Citizens to Lords" should be required reading and would make for good discussion for many a college political philosophy class.
 Interesting combination of social history and political analysis June 29, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
It is not easy to find out books offering an exposition of intellectual world views and the way they changed and evolved over the centuries and why. In that sense, many books only offer a summary of ideas and the people that held them which may be clear but sound totally abstract, without any link to the social life or strife of their times. So when I found this work combining social history and political analysis I decided it to give it a chance, in despite of not finding previous comments on it.
I don't propose here to review much of it - I have neither the time nor the ability to cover it all, for one thing because it would require expert historical knowledge I make no pretence to having. I will only say that, in my opinion, Woods' work is different: although she is leaned to the left more that I would like, she is capable of finding out and explaining pretty well some notable conformities between great -and not so great- thinkers' ideas [those of Plato, Aristotle, Cicero, St. Augustine, St. Thomas Aquinas and a few others from classic Greece to the middle of the XIVth century] and the particular circumstances in which their philosophies were formulated.
All that (and much more that I do not mention in this summary) is developed in 236 pages (index excluded), the book being divided in the following way: 1. The Social History of Political Theory; 2. The Ancient Greek Polis; 3. From Polis to Empire; 4. The Middle Ages; Conclusion.
The book is no very engaging, but it is not dry either. In my opinion is a masterful work which can be savoured by the professional historian and by the educated layperson too. Therefore, my rate is between 5 (content) and 3 (pleasure, sometimes falling to 2, sometimes raising to 4).
Other books that I would recommend in this line would be the following: 1) "America's Constitution: A Biography" by Akhil Reed Amar; 2) "A Social History of Dying" by Allan Kellehear; 3) "God Owes Us Nothing: A Brief Remark on Pascal's Religion and on the Spirit of Jansenism" by Leszek Kolakowski ; 4) "The Passions and the Interests: Political Arguments for Capitalism before its Triumph", by Albert O. Hirschman; 5) "The social thought of Bernard Mandeville" by Thomas Horne; and 6) "The fear of freedom" by Erich Fromm.
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