Rousseau (1712-1778) argues for the preservation of individual freedom in political society. An individual can only be free under the law, he says, by voluntarily embracing the law as his own. Hence, being free in society requires each of us to subjugate our desires to the interests of all, the general will. Some have seen in this the promise of a free and equal relationship between society and the individual, while others have seen it as nothing less than a blueprint for totalitarianism. The Social Contract is not only one of the great defences of civil society, it is also unflinching in its study of the darker side of political systems. Paperback reprint.

Hailed as the finest book ever written on the nature of democracy, it continues to be an influential text on both sides of the Atlantic, above all in the emerging democracies of Eastern Europe. De Tocqueville examines the structures, institutions and operation of democracy, and shows how Europe can learn from American successes and failures. His central theme is the advancement of the rule of the people, but he also predicts that slavery will bring about the most horrible of civil wars, foresees that the USA and Russia will be the superpowers of the 20th century, and is 150 years ahead of his time in his views on the position and importance of women. Paperback reprint.

With an introduction by Dr Richard Serjeantson. Since its first publication in 1651, Thomas Hobbes's Leviathan has been recognised as one of the most compelling, and most controversial, works of political philosophy written in English. Forged in the crucible of the civil and religious warfare of the mid-17th century, it proposes a political theory that combines an unequivocal commitment to natural human liberty with the conviction that the sovereign power of government must be exercised absolutely. Leviathan begins from some shockingly naturalistic starting-points: an analysis of human nature as being motivated by vain-glory and pride, and a vision of religion as simply the fear of invisible powers made up by the mind. Yet from these deliberately unpromising elements, Hobbes constructs with unparalleled forcefulness an elaborate, systematic, and comprehensive account of how political society ought to be: ordered, law-bound, peaceful. In Leviathan, Hobbes presents us with a portrait of politics which depicts how a state that is made up of the unified body of all its citizens will be powerful, fruitful, protective of each of its members, and - above all - free from internal violence. Paperback, 535pp.

Herodotus (c480 - c425 B.C.) is the Father of History and his Histories are the first piece of western historical writing. They are also the most entertaining. Why did Pheidippides run the 26 mile and 385 yards from Marathon to Athens? And what did he do when he got there? Was the Battle of Salamis fought between sausage sellers? Which is the oldest language in the world? And what is the best way to kill a crocodile? This wide-ranging history provides the answers as well as many fascinating insights into the Ancient World. 734pp in paperback.

Published as a reply to Burke's Reflections of the Revolution in France, Rights of Man is a classic statement of the belief in humanity's potential to change the world for the better. Paine writes with the vigour of a self-taught mast-maker and excise man. With a passion and rapier wit, he advocates such measures as free education, old age pensions, welfare benefits and child allowance over 100 years before these things were introduced in Britain. The work remains a compelling manifesto for social change. 226 page reprint in paperback.

The two political classics in this book are the product of a time of intense turmoil in Chinese history. They are anything but armchair strategy or ivory-tower speculation: they are serious, urgent and practical responses to the desperate situations in which they were written. They have been immensely influential both inside and outside China. 'The Art of War' analyses the nature of war and reveals how victory may be ensured. 'The Book of Lord Shang' is a political treatise for the instruction of rulers. With a new introduction by Robert Wilkinson to both texts and bound in a Wordsworth Classics of World Literature paperback. 256pp.

Working his way clockwise round Cornwall's stupendous coastline, the author crosses the Tamar Bridge from Devon and visits Saltash, a place where Neolithic flint arrowheads are two-a-penny and where William the Conqueror built a strategic fortification which later became the site of a key battle in the English Civil War. Nearby Launceston and Liskeard were Royalist towns, as was Fowey, where famous later residents of the area include Daphne du Maurier, author of Rebecca, the illustrator Mabel Lucie Attwell, and Kenneth Grahame who wrote The Wind in the Willows. West of St Austell is Falmouth, the most south-westerly harbour in Britain, and often the first place Royal Navy ships docked when returning from overseas. Truro, the county capital, was a stannary town, involved in the tin mining industry. Granted city status by Queen Victoria in 1877, its cathedral was built over the next 20 years. The rugged coastline of the Lizard peninsula was a notorious graveyard for ships, and continuing west, St Michael's Mount has a long history of strategic importance culminating in Hitler promising it to Ribbentrop should Germany win the war. Sennen is the first village in England travelling back from Land's End, followed by the bleak prehistoric settlement of St Just. St Ives, now Cornwall's most popular tourist destination, was a simple fishing village until the coming of the railway in 1877. The town of Bodmin is the only large Cornish settlement noted in the Domesday Book, though nearby Padstow also appears, now a renowned centre of gastronomy. 152pp, softback, numerous black and white photos.

Irish troops had fought for Louis XIV in the 1670s and took part in most of the major conflicts of the time including the Wars of the 1670s, the Nine Years War, the War of the Spanish Succession, the War of the Austrian Succession, the 1745 Jacobite Rebellion and in the Americas. Their many battles included Neerwinden, Steenkirke, Blenheim, Oudenarde, Ramillies and Malplaquet; Fontenoy, Culloden and York Town. They served alongside the French Army until the French Revolution. They fought in French service initially under Charles II but then in exile as James II lost his throne. The links between the regiments and the characters that form the core of the story are outlined and discussed and the Irish Brigade went on from becoming just another 'foreign' regiment to an elite formation. Ironically, while supporting the Jacobite cause, their link with the French enemy helped solidify the position of the English crown. They were sent to France under Lord Mountcashel in 1689. With the fall of Limerick in 1691, Patrick Sarsfield led the second 'flight' of 'Wild Geese' to the continent to fight in a war for the French, against the Grand Alliance of Europe, in the vain hope that their loyalty might warrant French support in a return to Ireland under a Stuart king. D. P. Graham explains the origins of the brigade and its regiments, the personalities who led them and formed their reputation, and the circumstances of their final dissolution in the aftermath of the French Revolution. 472pp.

We know our Bibliophile readers very well and this gruesome history of Britain's most brutal punishment will sell out fast. The history of gibbeting is the story of hanging of criminals in a body shaped metal cage as a warning and as a form of justice. From the folklore of live gibbettings to the eerie historical documenting of this weird post-execution tradition, the book looks at how and why society has dealt with murderers and other serious criminals in this way using case studies. It looks at how the introduction of the Murder Act in 1752 shaped our relationship with gibbeting for years to come. Chapters include Infamy, Thieves and Pirates, That's Entertainment, The Gibbet as A Landmark, No Deterrent, The Decline of the Gibbet and A Modern Fascination where gibbet cages remain on display in museums all over the country. Sometimes it was not the whole body but body parts as a form of this horrific torture, a gruesome spectacle where the body was placed in a tight cage of chains or irons that fitted the body perfectly and then was hung from a height of 20-30 feet on a wooden post. Gibbet cages were made individually and no two were the same and none was removed before the body had decayed and all that was left was bones and dust. One example is of Edward Hewison who in 1379 was a private in the Earl of Northumberland's Light Horse, tried and convicted of raping Louisa Bently in a field on the way to York as Louisa was walking to work. Hewison was executed at York Castle and afterwards his body was hung upon a gibbet in the field where the offence had taken place. There is no mention of Louisa's murder in any reports, only the rape, which makes it a highly unusual case of gibbeting. An uncomfortable sidelong glance at our ancestors and what they did. 150pp, illus.
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From the New York Times, 4th July 1857: 'Brick-bats, stones and clubs were flying thickly round, and from the windows in all directions, and the men ran wildly about brandishing firearms. Wounded men lay on the sidewalks and were trampled upon. Now the rabbits would make a concerted rush and force their antagonists up Baynard Street to the Bowery. Then the fugitives, being reinforced, would turn on their pursuers...' The scene was set for a classic Western showdown on a dusty main street, a sheriff backed by townspeople facing down a gang of heavily armed hired gunslingers. Someone drew first and a few minutes later ten men were dead or dying and several more suffered gunshot wounds. The hired guns fled. This was in the West Virginia mining town of Matewan in 1920. By contrast, the more celebrated gunfight at the OK Corrall in Tombstone lasted 60 seconds and left three men dead. Matewan was not an aberration. It was the era of the post-Civil War Wild West and it can be argued that it was the most dangerous place to be in the East. Race wars with lynchings and massacres, heavily armed confrontation between infant trade unionism and the forces of capitalism, murderous feuds between corrupt lawmen and the early Mafia were the confrontations in which the US Government bombed and marginalised their own citizens. The law was twisted for private ends, and 'fake news' became the norm. Popular historian Ian Hernon turns his practiced reporter's eye to a forgotten chapter in America's history of the crowded industrial cities of the Eastern United States with their poverty and exploitation. Some surprising facts emerge such as the main centre for horse rustling was not Wyoming but New York at the beginning of the last century, and black townships were bombed from the air before the Civil Rights Movement took hold. Jam packed full of great stories, educational and entertaining. 320pp, 16 pages of illustrations.