Both a history and an examination of human thought and behavior spanning three thousand years, 'On Politics' traces the origins of political philosophy from the ancient Greeks to Machiavelli in 'Book I' and from Hobbes to the present age in 'Book II'. Whether examining Lord Acton's dictum that 'absolute power corrupts absolutely' or explicating John Stuart Mill's contention that it is 'better to be a human dissatisfied than a pig satisfied', Alan Ryan aims to evoke the lives and minds of great thinkers in a way that makes reading about them a transcendent experience. Whether writing about Plato or Augustine, de Toqueville or Thomas Jefferson, Ryan intends to bring a wisdom to his text that can illuminate John Dewey's belief that the role of philosophy is less to see truth than to enhance experience.