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1297
Magna Carta
“At the end of the war in 1217, it formed part of the peace treaty agreed at Lambeth, where the document acquired the name Magna Carta, to distinguish it from the smaller Charter of the Forest which was issued at the same time. Short of funds, Henry reissued the charter again in 1225 in exchange for a grant of new taxes; his son, Edward I, repeated the exercise in 1297, this time confirming it as part of England's statute law.” Link Text -
Peace of Westphalia
“The Peace of Westphalia was a series of peace treaties signed between May and October 1648 in the Westphalian cities of Münster and Osnabrück, [which ended] the European wars of religion: the Thirty Years' War in the Holy Roman Empire, and the Eighty Years' War between Spain and the Dutch Republic” Link Text -
Jean-Jacques Rousseau
"The Social Contract...by Jean-Jacques Rousseau, is a 1762 book in which Rousseau theorized about the best way to establish a political community in the face of the problems of commercial society...His political philosophy influenced the Enlightenment in France and across Europe, as well as aspects of the French Revolution and the overall development of modern political and educational thought."
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Adam Smith, The Wealth of Nations
“The Wealth of Nations is the magnum opus of the Scottish economist and moral philosopher Adam Smith. First published in 1776, the book [is] one of the world's first collected descriptions of what builds nations' wealth and is today a fundamental work in classical economics. By reflecting upon the economics at the beginning of the Industrial Revolution, the book [discusses] the division of labor, productivity, and free markets.” Link Text -
Federalist Papers
“The Federalist Papers is a collection of 85 articles and essays written under the pseudonym "Publius" by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay to promote the ratification of the United States Constitution. A two-volume compilation of these and eight others was published...as The Federalist: A Collection of Essays, Written in Favour of the New Constitution, as Agreed upon by the Federal Convention, September 17, 1787.
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Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy in America
“De La Démocratie en Amérique; published in two volumes, the first in 1835 and the second in 1840)...by Alexis de Tocqueville...In the book, Tocqueville examines the democratic revolution that he believed had been occurring over the previous several hundred years...According to Tocqueville, democracy [results in] the tyranny of the majority over thought, a preoccupation with material goods, and isolated individuals.” Link Text -
Inclosure Acts
“The Inclosure Acts were a series of Acts of Parliament that empowered enclosure of open fields and common land in England and Wales, creating legal property rights to land that was previously held in common... In 1845, another General Inclosure Act allowed for the appointment of Inclosure Commissioners who could enclose land without submitting a request to Parliament.” Link Text -
Karl Marx, The Comminist Manifesto
“The Communist Manifesto (originally Manifesto of the Communist Party) is an 1848 political pamphlet by German philosophers Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels...the Manifesto [is] recognized as one of the world's most influential political documents. It presents an analytical approach to the class struggle (historical and then-present) and the problems of capitalism and the capitalist mode of production”
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Max Weber, The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism
“The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism is a book written by Max Weber, a German sociologist, economist, and politician. [Originally] a series of essays, the original German text was...translated into English for the first time by American sociologist Talcott Parsons in 1930. It is considered a founding text in economic sociology and sociology in general.” Link Text -
Simone de Beauvoir, The Second Sex
"The Second Sex...is a 1949 book by the French existentialist Simone de Beauvoir, in which the author discusses the treatment of women throughout history. She published it in two volumes, Facts and Myths and Lived Experience...One of Beauvoir's best-known books, The Second Sex is often regarded as a major work of feminist philosophy and the starting point of second-wave feminism...[Beauvoir wrote] “One is not born but becomes a woman.”
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Kimberlé Williams Crenshaw
“Crenshaw is an American civil rights advocate and a leading scholar of critical race theory...and a full-time professor at the UCLA School of Law and Columbia Law School, where she specializes in race and gender issues. Crenshaw [founded] Columbia Law School's Center for Intersectionality and Social Policy Studies...[in 2013] she wrote Reaffirming Racism: The faulty logic of Colorblindness, Remedy and Diversity”
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