Dogmas and Dreams: Political Ideologies in the Modern World (Chatham House Studies in Political Thinking)

I used this book for a course I taught on modern political ideologies, and I'm likely going to use it again, for want of something better and because it's so much work preparing an entirely new syllabus. However, I have some serious reservations about the book. Some of the text in the section introductions is downright tendentious, particularly the descriptions of Locke and liberalism (including the suggestion that liberalism only seeks equality for male property owners), and some of the editorial choices are questionable, such as placing the selection by Mazzini in the section on Fascism (and including no separate section on nationalism) and in general the choices of which excerpts to include from various authors. A particularly bizarre decision was the omission of Rousseau and for that matter any republicans other than Mazzini. However, the book does include substantial selections from most of the great political thinkers, which I greatly prefer to a scattershot of tiny excerpts, and that I think makes it worthwhile.

I read this book for a Political Science class I had in college. It is one of the best and most comprehensive books I have ever read. It breaks down the 6 major political Ideologies (Liberalism, Conservatism, Socialism, Facism, Communism, and Anarchy) and gives the reader several authors and thinkers that wrote in that vein, and the short and most interesting parts of those writings. It is great for the student of political science who wants a basic, sturdy, comprehensive reader that can be used across disciplines. I have quoted exerpts of it in papers for other classes, and it saves me from having to get 6 books, when 1 will suffice