The wellspring of Western political thought is Athens, where the innovations of democracy sparked a culture in which drama, history, and philosophy all have their origins. Those who followed in the footsteps of the Greek philosophers did so in a world of empires and, later, under the influence of Christianity and capitalism. Yet their approach to questions of justice and power retained the traits of their originals. They were critical and prescriptive, as well as focused on that peculiarly Western tension between the state and private property. As she progresses to the early modern thinkers - Machiavelli, Luther, Calvin, Spinoza, the Levellers, Hobbes, Locke, and Rousseau - Ellen Meiksins Wood links their passionate convictions to the conditions and conflicts of their day. The result is not only a study of political thought but of the limits and possibilities of the political imagination as it strives against the constraints of material reality. This is a perfect guide for students as well as a major treatise in its own right.