Ideal Commonwealths

Project GutenbergProject Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

3.0

Word count: 525K words
Chapters: 53

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.Ideal Commonwealths by Bacon, Campanella, Hall, More, Plutarch, and MorleyAuthor: ,Language: English, Class: HX: Social sciences: Socialism, Communism, Anarchism, Release Date: Jun 20, 2006

Editor's review

This is a collection of writings on the theme of the ideal commonwealth, bringing together relevant texts by Bacon, Campanella, Hall, More, Plutarch, and Morley so that readers can see in one volume how thinkers of different eras and positions imagined a better society. Its value lies not in a unified answer but in presenting a genealogy of utopian imagination: from classical comparisons of constitutions to modern blueprint designs, texts echo and dismantle one another. As a public-domain eBook, it is easy to search and suitable as companion material for courses in the history of political thought, as well as extended reading for those interested in utopian literature. Note that it is a compilation of essays by multiple authors, with inconsistent formats and styles, and some texts bear the strong imprint of their times; readers should read with a critical eye rather than treat it as a systematic treatise.

Who it's for

A good fit for

General readers interested in utopian thought and visions of the ideal commonwealth
Students of political thought history or literature using it as thematic companion reading
Readers who enjoy comparing viewpoints across authors and tracing connections themselves
Advanced readers who want to encounter classic utopian texts in the original English

Not a good fit for

Readers seeking a single-author systematic treatise with rigorous structure
Beginners who need modern annotations, introductions, and detailed background notes
Readers impatient with the historical limitations of classical texts and expecting direct guidance for the present

Reading tips

Read the table of contents first to see which authors and pieces are included, then start with an author you know
Prepare a comparison chart recording each piece's views on property, power, and education to facilitate comparison
Spend a few minutes on each author's era before reading to avoid judging them by modern standards
Read alongside standalone editions such as More's Utopia to appreciate the difference between excerpts and full texts

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

Does this book contain complete originals or excerpts?

It is a compilation of essays by multiple authors on the theme of the ideal commonwealth, with varied sources and formats; some pieces may be excerpts or abridgments. To study a particular author, consult a complete edition of that work rather than judging the original solely from this book.

Can I read it without a background in the history of political thought?

Yes, but extra preparation helps. The book involves several classical and modern thinkers, and without background notes it is easy to see only fragments. Look up each author's basic positions and era, or read alongside course notes, and comprehension will be much smoother.

Why do the styles of the chapters differ so much?

Because the book compiles texts by authors from different eras and linguistic traditions, ranging from classical comparisons of constitutions to modern blueprint designs, so styles and modes of argument naturally vary. This variety is the point of the collection; treat it as comparative material rather than a continuous treatise.

Comments

Find this book

This site is an index: you start “Search all sources” in your browser, and the entries it lists all point to third-party sites; please judge their availability yourself.

About the author

Project Gutenberg Author

Project Gutenberg is not a single author but a nonprofit digital library founded by Michael Hart in 1971 and one of the world's earliest free ebook platforms. It relies on volunteers to digitize, proofread, and freely distribute public-domain works and is now operated by the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Its collection contains 2,692 works, mainly religious texts, epics, and story collections, including the King James Bible and the Douay-Rheims volumes, the epic Mahabharata, a literal translation of the Arabian Nights, and Danish editions of the Old and New Testaments. Public information is limited, and its nature is closer to a public-interest compiling and dissemination body; these texts are open to the public, easy to consult and circulate, and have had a profound influence on the spread of ebooks and the preservation of public-domain resources.