Jason Xidias

Published by sociologist and historian W. E. B. Du Bois in 1903, this series of essays addresses the plight of African Americans facing everyday racism in the United States at the turn of the twentieth century. It has become one of the most important works on race and identity across the world. Du Bois sets out to explain how black interaction with a white world has caused psychological anguish and argues that blacks should demand total equality...

One of the most influential works of political theory ever written, The Federalist Papers collects 85 essays from 1787 and 1788, when the United States was a new country looking to find its way politically. Thomas Jefferson, author of the country's Declaration of Independence and a future US president himself, called the work "the best commentary on the principles of government which ever was written." The Federalist Papers looked to persuade Americans...

Davis's 1975 work looks to answer a question that had been all but ignored up to that point. Slavery had been accepted in Western culture for centuries. So why did a movement suddenly rise up in the industrial era calling for the slave trade to be abolished? Could it be that people had suddenly become more enlightened and humanitarian? Or were there other, more compelling and perhaps self-interested reasons for this sudden about-turn? The Problem...

"Politics as a Vocation" examines what makes good political leaders and explores the effects of political action on modern societies. On one level, it summarizes the political scholarship of one of the founding fathers of social science. On another, it reflects a leading German academic and political activist's practical concerns about the future at a time of great volatility following defeat in World War I. Weber investigates the bases of modern...

Nineteenth century American politician John C. Calhoun was unashamedly pro-slavery. So it may seem odd that A Disquisition on Government (1850), written in part to protect that practice, is so respected today. But South Carolina-born Calhoun was undoubtedly a great political thinker. Calhoun-who served his country as senator, vice president, secretary of war, and secretary of state-believed that "majority rule" inevitably led to abuse of power. He...

British-born American political activist Thomas Paine wrote Rights of Man in 1791 in response to Reflections on the Revolution in France, Edmund Burke's attack on the French Revolution. Burke was wary of tearing down old institutions of government. But Paine argued that revolution is acceptable-in fact, necessary-when government ignores the rights of its people. Not surprisingly, Rights of Man proved very popular in the newly liberated United States,...

The emergence of China as a major player on the international stage is one of the most significant developments in contemporary geopolitics-the study of the effects of geography (both human and physical) on international relations. Kang's call for understanding of and engagement with China, rather than containment and confrontation, makes China Rising a "must-read" for anyone interested in international politics. Kang's analysis investigates and...