Harold Laski's Books

The Foundations of Sovereignty (Works of Harold J. Laski)

And Other Essays

By: Harold J. Laski

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The Foundations of Sovereignty (Works of Harold J. Laski)

And Other Essays

By: Harold J. Laski

This influential study, originally published in 1921, develops aspects of Laski's theory of the state, ideas he introduced in his first important publication, Authority in the Modern State (1919). According to Laski, the state is not a supreme entity; it is one association among many that must compete for the people's loyalty and obedience.

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336

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Routledge

Published Date

ISBN 10

1138821845

ISBN 13

9781138821842

An Introduction to Politics (Works of Harold J. Laski)

By: Harold J. Laski

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An Introduction to Politics (Works of Harold J. Laski)

By: Harold J. Laski

This volume distils the themes expounded in A Grammar of Politics for the non-specialist reader. It is the best outline of Laski’s views in his transitional period.

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Routledge

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ISBN 10

1317586700

ISBN 13

9781317586708

The Works of Harold J. Laski

By: Harold Laski

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The Works of Harold J. Laski

By: Harold Laski

This set comprises works spanning Laski's career as a political thinker and the volumes re-issued here examine the questions of how government might be made more open and accountable and how the broad-based properity necessary to democracy might be assured. These remain central questions for both established and emerging democracies. Studies in the Problem of Sovereignty (1917), Authority in the Modern State (1919), and The Foundations of Sovereignty (1921) are all works which expand Laski's pluralist doctrine of the State; a theory then applied in modified form in A Grammar of Politics (1925). Communism (1927) argues against the concept of a Western Communist revolution. Democracy in Crisis (1933) and the more optimistic Reflections on the Constitution (1951) result from the defeat of Labour in 1931 and the onset of the Slump, at which point Laski rejected pluralism in favour of Marxist theory. Reflections on the Revolution of Our Time (1949) predicts a "revolution by consent" arising from the common war-effort. Also included are An Introduction to Politics (1931), The Rise of European Liberalism (1936) Parliamentary Government in England (1938), The Danger of Being a Gentleman (1939), Programme for Victory (1941), The Strategy of Freedom (1942) and The Dilemma of Our Times (1952).

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5735

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Routledge

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ISBN 10

1317587014

ISBN 13

9781317587019

The Rise of European Liberalism; An Essay in Interpretation

By: Harold J. Laski

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The Rise of European Liberalism; An Essay in Interpretation

By: Harold J. Laski

This Book, A Classic By One Of The Outstanding Political Scientists Of The Twentieth Century Seeks To Take Account Of The Factors Through Which Liberalism, The Guiding Doctrine Of Western Civilization Emerged As A New Ideology To Meet The Needs Of A New World In Which Status Was Replaced By Contract As The Judicial Foundation Of Society, Science Began To Replace Religion As The Controlling Factor In Giving Shape To The Ideas Of Humanity.Liberalism Was Synonymous Of Freedom Since It Emerged As The Foe Of Privilege Conferred By Virtue Of Birth Or Creed. However, The Freedom It Sought Had No Universality, Since Its Practice Was Limited To Men Who Had Property To Defend. Liberalism Tried To Discover A System Of Fundamental Rights, Which The State Is Not Entitled To Invade; However, It Turned Out To Be More Urgent And More Ingenious In Exerting Them To Defend The Interests Of Property Than To Protect The Interest Of Propertyless. As Soon As It Sought To Effect Fundamental Transformation Of Institutions Whose Habits It Was Supposed To Inform, It Found That It Was The Prisoner Of The End, It Was Destined To Serve. Soon The Liberal Spirit Was Vandalized And What Ensued Was War And Devastation, Ironically In The Name Of Saving That Very Spirit.Although Written In 1936, This Work Appears Equally Relevant Today As It Helps To Understand The Difficulties Of Our Time.

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246

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Aakar Books

Published Date

ISBN 10

8187879459

ISBN 13

9788187879459

The State in Theory and Practice

By: Harold Joseph Laski

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The State in Theory and Practice

By: Harold Joseph Laski

This timeless classic by Harold J. Laski explains the nature of the modern state by examining its characteristics, as revealed by its history. The State in Theory and Practice is a work that grows in significance, rather than dwindles over time. This is because, as Sidney A. Pearson, Jr. points out, Laski helped develop and expound the foundational arguments of the political left. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, even on the hard left, few people thought of Marxism, at least in its classical formulation by Laski in the 1930s, as a political alternative. Much of the interest in Laski seeks to separate the early Laski of pluralist parliamentary arguments from the later Laski of Marxism. Laski's appeal rests on subtle aspects of his science of politics that require a detailed examination before their full significance can be understood. The state is a work that operates at several layers of assumptions and implications. The significance of Laski starts with the observation that among many intellectuals on the left, the political critique of liberal democracy remains as influential after the collapse of the Soviet Union as it was when Laski wrote. The leftist critique of classical liberalism is one of the touchstones of modern political thought and Laski remains part of that tradition. Laski is one of the links between what might be called the "old left" of the pre-World War II era and the "new left" of the 1960's and later. Harold J. Laski (1893-1950) was an esteemed British political scientist, economist, author, and lecturer. He taught at McGill University and Harvard. From 1926 until his death he was professor of political science at the London School of Economics and Political Science. His works include Karl Marx, Democracy in Crisis, The American Presidency, and The Rise of European Liberalism. Sidney A. Pearson, Jr. is visiting professor of political science at Virginia Tech and professor emeritus of political science at Radford University. He is the series editor of Transaction's Library of Liberal Thought. He has written many new introductions for books including Presidential Leadership, Party Government, and The New Democracy.

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354

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Transaction Publishers

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ISBN 10

1412835089

ISBN 13

9781412835084

The State in Theory and Practice

By: Harold Laski

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The State in Theory and Practice

By: Harold Laski

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Routledge

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ISBN 10

1351473433

ISBN 13

9781351473439

The Rise of European Liberalism

By: Harold J. Laski

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The Rise of European Liberalism

By: Harold J. Laski

Beginning with the new worlds of the Renaissance and the Reformation, this book traces the growth of liberal doctrine through the advent of the French Revolution. It shows the relationship of liberalism to the emerging economic system of capitalism, and the impact of this relationship upon science, philosophy, and literature. Laski explains how the same causes which produced the socially active aspect of liberalism also inspired the growth of socialism. The contributions of men like Machiavelli, Locke, and Voltaire, the influence of the voyages of discovery, and the effect of the Puritan Rebellion are among the special topics discussed. The Rise of European Liberalism is a historical survey of the development of liberal thought, from its earliest whispers in early Protestantism to its significance in the "Red Decade" of the 1930s. Laski argues that liberalism as a philosophy came into existence with the rise of capitalism and thus functions primarily as an ideological defense of private property in a business civilization. Hence, liberalism's progressive side is doomed to defeat because, throughout its history, the bourgeois nature of the ideology has always prevailed. In the new introduction, John Stanley traces the history and influences of Laski's thought and provides a detailed analysis of Laski's work. The essay provides a coherent study in itself of why Laski is better remembered than widely read. The Rise of European Liberalism is a classic text that deserves rediscovery for historians, philosophers, sociologists, and political scientists of the present day.

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308

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Routledge

Published Date

ISBN 10

1351302868

ISBN 13

9781351302869

Reflections on the Revolution of Our Time

By: Harold Laski

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Reflections on the Revolution of Our Time

By: Harold Laski

Harold J. Laski saw World War Two as a period of revolutionary change as profound as any in the modern history of the human race. In his view, the period's inner nature was as significant in its essentials as those which saw the fall of the Roman Empire; the birth in the Reformation of capitalist society; or, as in 1789, the final chapter in the dramatic rise of the middle class to power. All of these were not revolutions made by thinkers, though some of them may have foreseen its coming, but of ordinary people who shaped the large outlines of the direction of these changes. Laski held that revolutions of our time have been rooted in all that goes to give its present character to our society. We can recognize its advent and prepare for it; in that event, we might build a civilization richer and more secure than any of which we so far have knowledge. Or we may chose to resist its onset; in which case, it will appear to some future generation that our age has sought rather to sweep back the tides of the ocean than to oppose the decrees of men. The curse of our social order is its persistent inequalities. Either we must find ourselves able to co-operate in their removal, or we shall move rapidly to conflict about them. Laski argues that the middle class must co-operate with workers in essential revisions, as the aristocracy was wise enough to do a century ago over the Reform Bill, or violent revolution will be unleashed by means that transforms the ends of either party to the conflict in view. This is the choice that lies before us. Just how accurate or wide of the mark Laski was is brilliantly articulated in the critical introduction by Sidney A. Pearson, Jr.

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548

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Routledge

Published Date

ISBN 10

1351494163

ISBN 13

9781351494168

Studies in Law and Politics

By: Harold Laski

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Studies in Law and Politics

By: Harold Laski

The essays that comprise Studies in Law and Politics are by and large academic. But Laski had a purpose in addition to the purely scholarly: he was eagerly pursuing possibilities for social and political change. Laski sought tirelessly for opportunities to act on those possibilities and, as is the case throughout his work, his academic and political purposes have no clear boundary between them.Studies in Law of Politics was published at a crucial juncture in Laski's ideological metamorphosis. During this period he had become increasingly worried that socialists might not be able to achieve the growth of working-class power. Although the essays contained in the volume cover a wide range of topics, and a wide span of time since the mid-1920s, he brought them into unity by a common approach. Though he does not make his unifying premise immediately evident to his readers, he clearly meant to chart the growth of power of those who had previously been without influence. His goal also was to identify the problems facing growth in a highly modernized society.Studies in Law and Politics reveals Laski's growing realization that the road to socialism might be more difficult than what he had believed when he wrote his pluralist works. The book reflects the mind of a thinker who was not content to write exclusively as an academic or a political activist. His view was that, while progressive reforms have been achieved in the past, they are not easily accomplished, and obstacles to further reforms should not be underestimated. This sober work offers much insight into Laski's intellectual development, as well as the times about which he wrote.

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332

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Routledge

Published Date

ISBN 10

1351487752

ISBN 13

9781351487757

The American Presidency

An Interpretation

By: Harold Laski

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The American Presidency

An Interpretation

By: Harold Laski

With its call for new, revitalized presidential leadership, The American Presidency is as relevant and timely today as when it first appeared in 1940 as a Book-of-the-Month Club selection. In addition to providing innovative ideas about the American presidency, Laski's book examines such contemporary, critical issues as the deadlock between the president and Congress, the crucial need for a coherent presidential direction of foreign policy, the relative unimportance of the presidnet's cabinet, and the weaknesses of America's pwer system in dealing with special interest groups.

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296

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Transaction Publishers

Published Date

ISBN 10

1412817048

ISBN 13

9781412817042

Reflections on the Revolution of Our Time

By: Harold Laski

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Reflections on the Revolution of Our Time

By: Harold Laski

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466

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Routledge

Published Date

ISBN 10

1351494171

ISBN 13

9781351494175

The Dilemma of Our Times (Works of Harold J. Laski)

An Historical Essay

By: Harold J. Laski

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The Dilemma of Our Times (Works of Harold J. Laski)

An Historical Essay

By: Harold J. Laski

This book, originally published in 1952, unfinished and perhaps imperfect, is the last book of one of the most acute political thinkers of the twentieth century. Laski’s earlier optimism about a swing to the Left was beginning to be reversed, and in this volume he saw the defects of his previous optimistic surveys, which, in his opinion, still had value, but needed to be brought up-to-date and consquently he began to write an additional chapter which was never completed. It remains a valuable last word of an author who for thirty years was respected and listened to on the topic of civilisation’s survial through change.

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275

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Routledge

Published Date

ISBN 10

1317586352

ISBN 13

9781317586357

The Works of Harold J. Laski

By: Harold Laski

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The Works of Harold J. Laski

By: Harold Laski

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5735

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Routledge

Published Date

ISBN 10

1317587014

ISBN 13

9781317587019

Cat and Mouse

By: Harold Coyle

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Cat and Mouse

By: Harold Coyle

Frustrated that his unit is pursuing a goal that has nothing to do with their mission, soldier Nathan Dixon encounters political resistance while working to undermine a terrorist who would unite various Islamic factions in order to maximize American casualties.

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398

Publisher

Macmillan

Published Date

ISBN 10

0765305488

ISBN 13

9780765305480

The American Democracy (Works of Harold J. Laski)

A Commentary and an Interpretation

By: Harold J. Laski

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The American Democracy (Works of Harold J. Laski)

A Commentary and an Interpretation

By: Harold J. Laski

This is Laski’s most important book after A Grammar of Politics. It discusses, on a grand scale, every aspect of American public life. Laski surveys American traditions and the American spirit, political institutions, the entire educational, religious, economic and social scene, America as a world power, and Americanism as a principle of civilisation. Laski’s unsurpassed knowledge of American constitutional, social and cultural history is set in the perspective of his deep study of comparative constitutional history and political theory. He was one of very few people to see U.S. politics from the inside, as a result of his friendships with Roosevelt, Brandeis and Oliver Wendell Holmes.

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Page Count

894

Publisher

Routledge

Published Date

ISBN 10

1317586468

ISBN 13

9781317586463

The American Presidency

An Interpretation

By: Harold Laski

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The American Presidency

An Interpretation

By: Harold Laski

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296

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Transaction Publishers

Published Date

ISBN 10

1412817048

ISBN 13

9781412817042

The Future of Political Science

By: Harold D. Lasswell

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The Future of Political Science

By: Harold D. Lasswell

Harold D. Lasswell is arguably the quintessential face of political science to the larger public of the past century. However, there is a side to Lasswell less well known, but of special importance in this day and age: the place of the profession of politics as an academic activity. This book, written at the start of the culture wars thirty years ago, outlines the basic core position of political science practitioners. It helps to explain why the field kept its collective cool, when other social science professionals veered to more extreme activist positions.The Future of Political Science grew out of the phenomenally rapid expansion of the study of government in the United States and elsewhere. The study of professionalism among physical scientists, lawyers, engineers, etc. was not matched by such internal examination within the social sciences until much later. Lasswell's overview centered on developments in the United States. There unfettered study of government reached unprecedented heights in the final stage of the twentieth century. The key concept of this volume, one that continues to inform discourse, is the relationship of political science as a mechanism for the study and teaching of the political system to the field as a tool of the Establishment. This concern grew in the wake of a variety of scandals and secret support sponsored by both government and non-government organizations alike.The Future of Political Science covers areas ranging from membership size and disparities, intervention scenarios in world events, the nature of creativity in political research collaboration in projects with the other social sciences, and the location of scientific centers of gravity in the study of politics. Because of Lasswell's works we have a field of the political science of knowledge as well as the sociology of knowledge.Harold D. Lasswell served as Ford Foundation Professor of the Social Sciences at Yale University, Distinguished Professor of Policy Sciences at Joh

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398

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Routledge

Published Date

ISBN 10

1351482408

ISBN 13

9781351482400

Power and Society

A Framework for Political Inquiry

By: Harold D. Lasswell

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Power and Society

A Framework for Political Inquiry

By: Harold D. Lasswell

In Power and Society, Harold D. Lasswell collaborates with a brilliant young philosopher, Abraham Kaplan, to formulate basic theoretical concepts and hypotheses of political science, providing a framework for further inquiry into the political process. This is a classic book of political theory written by two of the most influential social scientists of the twentieth century.The authors find their subject matter in interpersonal relations, not abstract institutions or organizations, and their analysis of power is related to human values. They argue that revolution is a part of the political process, and ideology has a role in political affairs. The importance of class, both as social fact and social symbol, is reflected in their detailed analysis, and emphasis on merit rather than rank, skill rather than status, as keystones of democratic rule.The authors note that power is only one of the values and instruments manifested in interpersonal relations; it cannot be understood in abstraction from other values. Lasswell and Kaplan call for the replacement of "power politics," both in theory and in practice, by a conception in which attention is focused on the human consequences of power as the major concern of both political thought and political action. The basic discussions of core concepts in political science make Power and Society of continuing importance to scholars, government officials, and politicians.

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334

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Routledge

Published Date

ISBN 10

135149743X

ISBN 13

9781351497435

The Policy of Simmering

A Study of British Policy during the Spanish Civil War 1936–1939

By: W. Laird Kleine-Ahlbrandt,Harold Paton Mitchell

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The Policy of Simmering

A Study of British Policy during the Spanish Civil War 1936–1939

By: W. Laird Kleine-Ahlbrandt,Harold Paton Mitchell

Few modern events have aroused more controversy than the Spanish Civil War. This controversy was especially acute in Great Britain, which was torn between its distrust of Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy on the one hand and of Communist Russia on the other. The British public, pacifist in sentiment and determined to avoid war at almost any cost, sensed the danger implicit in the Civil War, yet realised its impotence to control events in Spain which indeed it little understood. The British Government, though under heavy attack from the Opposition and from a handful of its own supporters, succeeded in its endeavours to keep the country out of war on this occasion. The neutrality of Spain, even after Mussolini had entered World War II, was of inestimable value to Britain after the debacle in the summer of 1940. It may be therefore that British policy during the Civil War paid off later on as well as achieving its purpose at the time. Dr. Kleine's book, lucidly written and carefully documented, ex amines the British attitude toward the Spanish Civil War. The author has the advantage of belonging to a generation which is able to analyse these events with historical detachment. Yet his understanding and easy style have made the period live. Neutrality was not easy for Britain. Its far-reaching interests in trading with Spain and in passage through Iberian waters again and again raised awkward problems.

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Page Count

210

Publisher

Springer

Published Date

ISBN 10

9401510091

ISBN 13

9789401510097

Power and Society

A Framework for Political Inquiry

By: Harold D. Lasswel,Abraham Kaplan

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Power and Society

A Framework for Political Inquiry

By: Harold D. Lasswel,Abraham Kaplan

Produced for unit SSS312 offered by the School of Social Sciences in Deakin University's Open Campus Program.

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334

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Transaction Publishers

Published Date

ISBN 10

141285234X

ISBN 13

9781412852340

The Qualified Student

A History of Selective College Admission in America

By: Harold S. Wechsler

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The Qualified Student

A History of Selective College Admission in America

By: Harold S. Wechsler

In The Qualified Student Harold S. Wechsler focuses on methods of student selection used by institutions of higher education in the United States. More specifically, he discusses the way that college and university reformers employed those methods to introduce higher education into a broader cross-section of America, by extending access to an increased number of students from nontraditional backgrounds. Implicit in much of this book is an underlying social and ethical question: How legitimate was and is higher education's regulation of social mobility? Public concern over colleges' and universities' practices became inevitable once they became regulators between social classes. The challenging of colleges' admissions policies in the courts augments similar concerns that have been present in legislatures for decades. The volume is divided into three main sections: Prerequisites, Columbia and the Selective Function, and Implications. It focuses mainly on four universities, The University of Michigan, Columbia University, the University of Chicago, and the City University of New York. Wechsler maintains that unlike other universities, these institutions were pacesetters; they did not adopt a new policy simply because some other college had already adopted it. A new introduction brings the book, originally published in 1977, up to date and demonstrates its continuing importance in today's academic world of selective admissions.

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423

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Routledge

Published Date

ISBN 10

1351475630

ISBN 13

9781351475631

The Danger of Being a Gentleman (Works of Harold J. Laski)

And Other Essays

By: Harold J. Laski

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The Danger of Being a Gentleman (Works of Harold J. Laski)

And Other Essays

By: Harold J. Laski

An excellent and entertaining essayist, Laski’s volume deals with the issues of politics and law in Europe and American during the 1920s and 30s. It is unified by the concpetion of democracy as a society of equals sharing in a common good.

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