According to conventional periodization, a profound break in the continuity of Western political theory occurred around 1500 and marked the beginning of "modern" political thought. In Machiavelli to Marx Dante Germino examines the scholars of this period whose works he feels have made significant new approaches to the critical understanding of our world and, consequently, to the problems of our time. Beginning with Machiavelli, the author covers major political philosophers such as Hobbes, Locke, Rousseau, and Burke and gives lucid, perceptive accounts of what they thought and taught about politics. He discusses utilitarianism, liberalism, scientism, and messianic nationalism through the writings of such influential thinkers as Bentham, Spencer, Saint-Simon, and Fichte and concludes with three of the foremost political philosophers of the nineteenth century—Fourier, Proudhon, and Marx.

Dante Germino is professor of government and foreign affairs at the University of Virginia.