Free summaries
History - Early Modern (c. 1450-1750)
7 public-domain history - early modern (c. 1450-1750) books, summarised. Page 1 of 1.
The Prince
Niccolò Machiavelli
To understand the mechanics of power is to study the cold, often brutal, architecture of human ambition.
Leviathan
Thomas Hobbes
Humanity’s natural state is a war of all against all, and only a single, absolute authority can provide the safety required for civilization to endure.
Second Treatise of Government
John Locke
True liberty requires that we govern ourselves through consent rather than force. Discover why the original social contract remains the only legitimate foundation for any just and enduring civil society.
The Part Borne by the Dutch in the Discovery of Australia 1606-1765
J. E. (Jan Ernst) Heeres
The vast, silent coastline of a "Southland" waits, mapped by Dutch sailors who touched its edges, mistook its promise, and left behind only names on charts and the wreckage of wooden ships.
Discourse on the Method of Rightly Conducting One's Reason and of Seeking Truth in the Sciences
René Descartes
To think clearly is to dismantle the architecture of received wisdom, brick by brick, until only the unshakeable foundation remains. This journey demands nothing less than the total reconstruction of one’s own mind.
An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding
David Hume
To understand the world, we must first accept that our most certain beliefs are not products of logic, but habits of the mind—instincts evolved to help us survive in an uncertain universe.
The Superstitions of Witchcraft
Howard Williams
Fear of witches begins as a tale of marvels and ends as a history of courts, prisons, and fires. The book tracks how superstition hardens into law and how law, in turn, feeds superstition.