First published 1651
Thomas Hobbes witnesses the brutal devastation of the Thirty Years War and Britain's civil conflicts. The carnage transforms his thinking completely. He faces a world stripped of safety, where violence and greed rule supreme. No traditional values survive the bloodshed. Hobbes must answer an urgent question: how can humanity save itself from this chaos? What political system could deliver the security that he and his fellow survivors desperately need? His answer shocks contemporary readers. Authorities burn his work as seditious. Critics attack him from every direction. Yet his ideas possess an undeniable power that captivates minds across generations. The concepts he develops will reshape Europe entirely, creating the political world we still inhabit today.
Genres: philosophy, historical-fiction, political-science, academic
Vibes: intimate, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: enemies-to-allies, ideological-conflict
Setting: Europe
Period: Thirty Years War, British Civil War
688 pages · Paperback · Penguin Classics
Content warnings: violence, war