What are some essential political books? I didn't finish

>>8828767
You could do worse than starting with Thomas Paine's Common Sense.

>>8828876
That's the worst place to start.

>>8828767
Better than asking /lit/ for entry-level recommendations into a specific field is to check out the syllabi of renowned universities/institutions. For example:

http://polisci.columbia.edu/courses/course-syllabi

Here's a direct link to the first one (Pol Sci 101):

http://polisci.columbia.edu/files/polisci/content/pdf/syllabi/1013%20Michelle%20Smith%20Barnard%20S13.pdf

All essential and useful reading.

>>8828888
>quads
Admittedly, it probably lacks something if you're not American, but far from the WORST I would have thought. What would you recommend him?

File: 1477258570397.jpg (72KB, 564x677px) Image search: [Google]

72KB, 564x677px

>>8828876
Excellent prelude.
I get my political knowledge from reading history. Hobsbawm's books are great for this. Good bios of the US founders.

Reading Machiavelli may be too far back for you, but you could look into that. You don't want to go as deep as Hobbes do you?

>>8828767
Do you have a grasp on social contract theory? If not I'd say:
Plato: The Republic
Aristotle: Nichomachean Ethics and then Politics
Machiavelli: The Prince and then The Discourses
Hobbes: Leviathan
Locke: Second Treatise of Government
Roussea: The Social Contract
I'd also check out Wollstonecraft's A Vindication of the Rights of Women along with the Chapter 5 of Rousseau's Emile, or On Education. Also wholeheartedly agree with the recommendations of Thomas Paine's Common Sense, not sure I'd start with it though.

>>8828910
This anon has the right idea, syllabi from respected universities are so helpful for this kinda stuff.

>>8828767
Machiavelli:
The Essential Writings of Machiavelli (ISBN: 0812974239)
Discourses on Livy (ISBN: 9780199555550)
Art of War (ISBN: 0226500462)
Florentine Histories (ISBN: 0691008639)

Hobbes:
Leviathan (ISBN: 0872201775)

Locke:
TwoTreatisesofGovernment (ISBN: 0521357306)

Rousseau:
TheBasicPoliticalWritings (ISBN: 1603846735)
Emile (ISBN: 0465019315)

Montesquieu:
The Spirit of the Laws (ISBN: 0521369746)
Persian Letters (ISBN: 1624661807)

Voltaire:
Candide (ISBN: 0393960587)

Price:
Political Writings (ISBN: 0521409691)

Burke:
Reflections on the Revolution in France (ISBN: 0199539022)

Paine:
RightsofMan,CommonSense,andOtherPoliticalWritings (ISBN: 019953800X)

Maistre:
Considerations on France (ISBN: 0521466288)

Tocqueville:
Democracy in America (ISBN: 0865978409)