The History of Government from the Earliest Times: Volume I: Ancient Monarchies and Empires - Softcover

Finer, S. E.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0198207891 ISBN 13: 9780198207894

Publisher: Oxford Univ Press, 1999

Synopsis

No one has hitherto had the breadth of imagination and intellectual boldness to describe and analyse government throughout recorded history and throughout the world. This unique study of government is the culmination of the work of the late S. E. Finer, one of the leading political scientists of the twentieth century.

About this title

About the Author:

F.B.A., Fellow of All Souls and Emeritus Gladstone Professor of Government and Public Administration in the University of Oxford (d.1993)

Review:

`No review can fully capture the breadth and accessibility of S. E. Finer's posthumous magnum opus ... its clarity and readability must be emphasized ... Finer constantly reminds us of exceptions that explain the richness and diversity of polities.'
John R. Cramsie, History

`This is political science on the grandest scale: three volumes that provide a history of successive forms of government throughout the world from the earliest times to the present day ... Finer presents material on political systems that most political scientists will be completely unfamiliar
with, and gives fresh insights into systems that they might have thought they knew ... What makes it a great book, and one that deserves to be read by all students of government, is Finer's remarkable ability to classify and compare across the entire universe of known systems of government. It is
not simply the scholarship and erudition that is breathtaking, but also the confident, clear and imaginative use of comparative tools to describe the significance of the systems of government.'
Edward Page, Public Policy

`Finer's magisterial History of Government is, indeed, 'the mix of scholastic erudition with street-level realism' that the authors of the preface claim it is for. His three volumes engagingly and convincingly blend usually precise scholarship; imaginative flare and insight; a genius for
comparison, contrast, and analogy; great forthrightness; and essential knowledge for the formation of and commentary upon current public policy. Historians, social scientists broadly conceived, statesmen, and journalists will be indebted to him for a long time for this ambitious work. His range of
dramatic narrative, incisive analysis and interpretation, instructive comparisons, studied repetitions, and well-chosen emphases arrested at least this reader's attention and compelled his fascinated interest. Finer weaves everything together into a rich texture and overarching thesis so that...his
work will stimulate scholars for generations to come.'
Donald A. Bailey

About this edition

• Publisher: Oxford Univ Press
• Publication date: 1999
• ISBN 10: 0198207891
• ISBN 13: 9780198207894
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 610