Present State of Germany: Or, an Account of the Extent, Rise, Form, Wealth, Strength, Weakness & Interests of That Empire (Natural Law and Enlightenment Classics)

Samuel Pufendorf’s The Present State of Germany was first published in 1667 (under the pseudonym Severinus de Monzambano) and immediately became one of the most notorious works in Europe for the next half century. Its trenchant critique of previous theories of the Holy Roman Empire elicited both attacks and defenses, and it also anticipated many elements in Pufendorf’s subsequent writings on natural law, history, and religion.

Samuel Pufendorf (1632–1694) taught natural law and was court historian in both Germany and Sweden.

Michael J. Seidler is Professor of Philosophy at Western Kentucky University.

Originally published in 1667 by Sweden's and Brandenburg's official state historian Samuel Pufendorf (1632-1694), The Present State of Germany is a classic volume that sparked incendiary debate in its time due to its controversial and utterly unapologetic deconstruction of mainstream German constitutional law. This edition has been meticulously assembled by comparing its 1696 translation by Edmund Bohun with Pufendorf's 1667 Latin original and Gundling's 1706 edition. The original prefaces to the two Latin editions have been translated into English for the first time, and an introduction by editor Michael J. Seidler offers historical and philosophical setting and context. An index rounds out this informative and instructive volume which is very highly recommended for classic history text reference collections.

The Midwest Book Review
July 2007