Series: Routledge Classics

Modern Man in Search of a Soul is a profound exploration of the human psyche by one of the founding figures of modern psychology, C.G. Jung. This insightful work delves into the complexities of the human mind, addressing the existential crises that many face in contemporary society. Jung meticulously examines the inner workings of the unconscious mind, the role of...

The Road to Serfdom by F.A. Hayek is a profound work of political philosophy and economics, originally published in 1944. This groundbreaking book offers a compelling critique of centralised planning and the dangers it poses to individual freedom and democracy. Hayek meticulously dissects the allure of totalitarianism that was gaining traction in many parts of the world during his time....

In The Order of Things, Michel Foucault embarks on a profound exploration of the intricate patterns and structures that underpin human knowledge and understanding. This groundbreaking work traverses a dazzling array of disciplines, scrutinising the ways we have historically categorised and classified information. Without divulging any spoilers, Foucault takes the reader on an intellectual journey through literature, art, economics, and...

Karl Popper's seminal work, The Open Society and Its Enemies, offers a penetrating exploration of the philosophical and historical foundation of totalitarianism. Spanning two volumes originally published in 1945, the book critically examines the ideas of influential philosophers such as Plato, Hegel, and Marx, whose doctrines Popper argues have paved the way for authoritarian regimes. Through these examinations, Popper presents...

The Logic of Scientific Discovery by Karl Popper stands as a monumental text in the philosophy of science, one which has profoundly influenced both the academic world and the practical methodology of scientific research. This seminal work delves into the nature of scientific inquiry, presenting a rigorous analysis of the scientific method and challenging the foundational concepts of empirical science....

The Conquest of Happiness by Bertrand Russell is a seminal work that offers readers insightful guidance on how to lead a fulfilling and happy life. First published in 1930, this timeless classic precedes the modern self-help movement by several decades, yet retains its relevance and wisdom. Russell, a renowned philosopher and logician, combines his deep understanding of human nature with...

In The Birth of the Clinic, Michel Foucault embarks on an intriguing exploration of the medical gaze and the transformation of medical knowledge during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Set against the backdrop of the French Revolution and the rise of modern medicine, Foucault analyses how the practice of medicine shifted from a reliance on classical texts and...

Michel Foucault, a towering intellectual figure of the twentieth century, invites readers to delve deep into the intricate and often opaque realms of knowledge and history with Archaeology of Knowledge. In this seminal work, Foucault shifts from the historical to the philosophical, analysing the ways in which discourse—the way we speak and write about subjects—both informs and constructs our understanding...

Madness and Civilization, Michel Foucault's groundbreaking first book, offers a compelling journey through the history of madness in Western society from the Middle Ages to the modern era. Foucault meticulously examines how notions of madness have evolved over time, from being perceived as a divine or demonic manifestation to an illness requiring clinical treatment. Throughout this detailed exploration, Foucault illuminates...

Introduction to Mathematical Philosophy by Bertrand Russell is a seminal work first published in 1919, offering readers a profound insight into the philosophical underpinnings of mathematics. This classic text is a testament to Russell's intellectual prowess, intertwining his expertise in both philosophy and mathematics to provide an accessible yet thorough introduction to the subject. In this book, Russell embarks on...

History of Western Philosophy, first published in 1946, stands as a monumental achievement in the world of philosophy. Authored by the renowned philosopher Bertrand Russell, the book offers an extensive and thorough exploration of Western philosophical thought from ancient times to the early 20th century. Through its pages, readers are invited to journey through the development of philosophical ideas that...

In his thought-provoking work, In Praise of Idleness, Bertrand Russell explores the profound societal impact of embracing leisure and scepticism. This collection of essays delves into the vital importance of introspection and intellectual freedom in an era marked by relentless activity and unquestioning conformity. Far from advocating mere laziness, Russell mounts a persuasive argument for recognising the significance of what...

Dreams by C.G. Jung is an intriguing exploration of the enigmatic realm of dreams, harnessed through the profound lens of one of the twentieth century's most notable thinkers. Carl Jung, renowned author, psychiatrist, scholar, painter, and world traveller, invites readers on an illuminating journey into the depths of the subconscious. This comprehensive compilation highlights Jung's extensive work on dream analysis,...

In The Undiscovered Self, Carl Gustav Jung addresses the vital question of the individual’s place in a rapidly evolving mass society. As a seminal work, this book encapsulates Jung’s profound insights into the human psyche, offering guidance to those feeling lost in the complexities of modern life. He dissects the conflict between the solitary, unique self and the overwhelming tides...

One of the most talked-about scholarly works of the past fifty years, Judith Butler’s Gender Trouble is as celebrated as it is controversial. Arguing that traditional feminism is wrong to look to a natural, 'essential' notion of the female, or indeed of sex or gender, Butler starts by questioning the category 'woman' and continues in this vein with examinations of...

In 1895, the thirty-year-old W.B. Yeats, already established as one of Ireland's leading poets and folklorists, published this outstanding collection of Irish verse as part of his campaign to establish a tradition of Irish poetry fit for the dawn of a new age in Ireland's history. This Routledge Classics edition, complete with a specially commissioned introduction by acclaimed writer and...

First written by Marcel Mauss and Henri Humbert in 1902, A General Theory of Magic gained a wide new readership when republished by Mauss in 1950. As a study of magic in 'primitive' societies and its survival today in our thoughts and social actions, it represents what Claude Lévi-Strauss called, in an introduction to that edition, the astonishing modernity of...

With a new foreword by Tim Cornell ‘Can anyone be so indifferent or idle as not to care to know by what means and under what kind of polity almost the whole inhabited world was conquered and bought under the dominion of a single city of Rome?’ – Polybius, Greek Historian The city of Rome created the foundations of an...

Bronislaw Malinowski’s pathbreaking Argonauts of the Western Pacific is at once a detailed account of exchange in the Melanesian islands and a manifesto of a modernist anthropology. Malinowski argued that the goal of which the ethnographer should never lose sight is to ‘grasp the native’s point of view, his relation to life, to realise his vision of his world.’ Through...

Bronislaw Malinowski’s pathbreaking Argonauts of the Western Pacific is at once a detailed account of exchange in the Melanesian islands and a manifesto of a modernist anthropology. Malinowski argued that the goal of which the ethnographer should never lose sight is to 'grasp the native’s point of view, his relation to life, to realise his vision of his world'. Through...

"Winnicott was a healer with the qualities of a parent, a magician, a teacher, a poet and a friend. The editors of this book have done a great service in collecting and arranging papers dating from the experiences of the evacuation in the Second World War up to some of Winnicott’s continued explorations of his own philosophy" - The British...

No judgement of taste is innocent — we are all snobs. Pierre Bourdieu’s Distinction brilliantly illuminates the social pretensions of the middle classes in the modern world, focusing on the tastes and preferences of the French bourgeoisie. First published in 1979, the book is at once a vast ethnography of contemporary France and a dissection of the bourgeois mind. In...

‘Anyone who writes about the Tudor century puts his head into a number of untamed lions’ mouths.’ G.R. Elton, Preface Geoffrey Elton (1921–1994) was one of the great historians of the Tudor period. England Under the Tudors is his major work and an outstanding history of a crucial and turbulent period in British and European history. Revised several times since...

The fairy tale is arguably one of the most important cultural and social influences on children's lives. But until the first publication of Fairy Tales and the Art of Subversion, little attention had been paid to the ways in which the writers and collectors of tales used traditional forms and genres in order to shape children's lives – their behaviour,...

Marc Bloch said that his goal in writing Feudal Society was to go beyond the technical study a medievalist would typically write and ‘dismantle a social structure.’ In this outstanding and monumental work, which has introduced generations of students and historians to the feudal period, Bloch treats feudalism as a living, breathing force in Western Europe from the ninth to...

Widely acknowledged as a contemporary classic that has introduced thousands of readers to American literature, From Puritanism to Postmodernism: A History of American Literature brilliantly charts the fascinating story of American literature from the Puritan legacy to the advent of postmodernism. From realism and romanticism to modernism and postmodernism, it examines and reflects on the work of a rich panoply...

From Solon to Socrates is a magisterial narrative introduction to what is generally regarded as the most important period of Greek history. Stressing the unity of Greek history and the centrality of Athens, Victor Ehrenberg covers a rich and diverse range of political, economic, military and cultural issues in the Greek world, from the early history of the Greeks, including...

From the Gracchi to Nero is an outstanding history of the Roman world from 133 BC to 68 AD. Fifty years since publication, it is widely hailed as the classic survey of the period, going through many revised and updated editions until H.H. Scullard’s death. It explores the decline and fall of the Roman Republic and the establishment of the...

First published in 1946, History of Western Philosophy went on to become the best-selling philosophy book of the twentieth century. A dazzlingly ambitious project, it remains unchallenged to this day as the ultimate introduction to Western philosophy. Providing a sophisticated overview of the ideas that have perplexed people from time immemorial, it is long on wit, intelligence and curmudgeonly scepticism,...

First published in 1903, Principles of Mathematics was Bertrand Russell’s first major work in print. It was this title which saw him begin his ascent towards eminence. In this groundbreaking and important work, Bertrand Russell argues that mathematics and logic are, in fact, identical and what is commonly called mathematics is simply later deductions from logical premises. Highly influential and...

Émile Durkheim is one of the founding fathers of sociology, and Professional Ethics and Civic Morals is one of his most neglected yet insightful works. Durkheim's view that the instability of industrial society was connected to the decline of religion and his characterisation of the state as the ultimate moral force in society reveal his lifelong engagement with the relationship...

Franz Brentano is one of the founding fathers of twentieth century philosophy, celebrated for introducing the concept of intentionality to philosophy as well as making significant contributions to ethics and logic. His work exerted great influence on major philosophers such as Edmund Husserl, but also philosophers travelling in the opposite direction, such as Gottlob Frege. He counted Sigmund Freud amongst...

This classic of Shakespeare scholarship begins with a masterly introductory essay analysing and exemplifying the various categories of sexual and non-sexual bawdy expressions and allusions in Shakespeare's plays and sonnets. The main body of the work consists of an alphabetical glossary of all words and phrases used in a sexual or scatological sense, with full explanations and cross-references. When referencing...

A true classic of Western literature, Stories and Tales by Hans Christian Andersen, arguably the most notable children's writer of all, has delighted young and old for generations. This unique collection was first translated for George Routledge over 130 years ago. Completely reset, but preserving the original, beautiful illustrations by A.W. Bayes, engraved by the masters of Victorian book illustration,...

There would be no need for sociology if everyone understood the social frameworks within which we operate. That we do have a connection to the larger picture is largely thanks to the pioneering thinker Émile Durkheim. He recognized that, if anything can explain how we as individuals relate to society, then it is Suicide: Why does it happen? What goes...

Peter Strawson (1919–2006) was one of the leading British philosophers of his generation and an influential figure in a golden age for British philosophy between 1950 and 1970. The Bounds of Sense is one of the most influential books ever written about Kant’s philosophy and is one of the key philosophical works of the late twentieth century. Whilst probably best...

One of A.J.P. Taylor's best-known books, The Course of German History is a notoriously idiosyncratic work. Composed in his famously witty style, yet succinct to the point of sharpness, this is one of the great historian's finest, if more controversial, accomplishments. As Taylor himself noted, 'the history of the Germans is a history of extremes. It contains everything except moderation.'...

Described by the philosopher A.J. Ayer as a work of great originality and power, this book revolutionised contemporary thinking on science and knowledge. Ideas such as the now legendary doctrine of falsificationism electrified the scientific community, influencing even working scientists, as well as post-war philosophy. This astonishing work ranks alongside The Open Society and Its Enemies as one of Popper's...

When one defines "order" as a sorting of priorities, it becomes beautifully clear as to what Foucault is doing here. With virtuoso showmanship, he weaves an intensely complex history of thought. He dips into literature, art, economics and even biology in The Order of Things, possibly one of the most significant, yet most overlooked, works of the twentieth century. Eclipsed...

"China, by her resources and her population, is capable of being the greatest power in the world after the United States." — Bertrand Russell, The Problem of China In 1920, the philosopher Bertrand Russell spent a year in China as Professor of Philosophy at the University of Beijing (then Peking), where his lectures on mathematical logic enthralled students and listeners,...

This classic book is a powerful indictment of contemporary attitudes to race. By accusing British intellectuals and politicians on both sides of the political divide of refusing to take race seriously, Paul Gilroy caused immediate uproar when this book was first published in 1987. A brilliant and explosive exploration of racial discourses, There Ain’t No Black in the Union Jack...

Joseph Schumpeter (1883–1950) is one of the most fascinating and influential economists of the twentieth century, renowned for his brilliant and unorthodox insights into the nature of capitalism. His students include leading economists such as Paul Samuelson, Robert Solow and the former chairman of the Federal Reserve, Alan Greenspan. The Theory of Economic Development is one of Schumpeter's most important...

With a new foreword by Scott Austin The World of Parmenides is a brilliant exploration of the complexity of ancient Greek thought and science. In this classic title, Popper reveals his ground-breaking engagement with Presocratic philosophy and the profound enlightenment he experienced in reading Parmenides. Including writings on Greek science, philosophy, and history, Popper demonstrates his lifelong fascination and admiration...

When Marshall McLuhan first coined the phrases "global village" and "the medium is the message" in 1964, no-one could have predicted today's information-dependent planet. No-one, that is, except for a handful of science fiction writers and Marshall McLuhan. Understanding Media was written twenty years before the PC revolution and thirty years before the rise of the Internet. Yet McLuhan's insights...

In the 1960s a radical concept emerged from the great French thinker Jacques Derrida. Read the book that changed the way we think; read Writing and Difference, the classic introduction.

In spite of the double burden of racial and gender discrimination, African-American women have developed a rich intellectual tradition that is not widely known. In Black Feminist Thought, originally published in 1990, Patricia Hill Collins set out to explore the words and ideas of Black feminist intellectuals and writers, both within the academy and without. Here, Collins provides an interpretive...

Of all the books of the Bible, few have had more resonance for modern readers than the Book of Job. For a world that has witnessed great horrors, Job's cries of despair and incomprehension are all too recognisable. The visionary psychotherapist Carl Gustav Jung understood this and responded with this remarkable book, in which he set himself face-to-face with 'the...

As Bowlby himself points out in his introduction to this seminal childcare book, to be a successful parent means a lot of very hard work. Giving time and attention to children means sacrificing other interests and activities, but for many people today these are unwelcome truths. Bowlby’s work showed that the early interactions between infant and caregiver have a profound...

Philosophers have traditionally concentrated on the qualities that make human beings different from other species. In Beast and Man, Mary Midgley, one of our foremost intellectuals, stresses continuities. What makes people tick? Largely, she asserts, the same things as animals. She tells us humans are rather more like other animals than we previously allowed ourselves to believe, and reminds us...

Scholar, theologian and philosopher, Martin Buber is one of the twentieth century's most influential thinkers. He believed that the deepest reality of human life lies in the relationship between one being and another. Between Man and Man is the classic work where he puts this belief into practice, applying it to the concrete problems of contemporary society. Here, he tackles...

In 1970, Katharine Briggs published in four volumes the vast and authoritative Dictionary of British Folktales and Legends to wide acclaim. This sampler comprises the very best of those tales and legends. Gathered within, readers will find an extravagance of beautiful princesses and stout stable boys, sour-faced witches and kings with hearts of gold. Each tale is a masterpiece of...

Content and Consciousness is an original and ground-breaking attempt to elucidate a problem integral to the history of Western philosophical thought: the relationship of the mind and body. In this formative work, Dennett sought to develop a theory of the human mind and consciousness based on new and challenging advances in the field that came to be known as cognitive...

Descartes has often been called the father of modern philosophy. His attempts to find foundations for knowledge, and to reconcile the existence of the soul with the emerging science of his time, are among the most influential and widely studied in the history of philosophy. This is a classic and challenging introduction to Descartes by one of the most distinguished...

Author, psychiatrist and scholar, painter, world traveller, and above all visionary dreamer, Carl Jung was one of the great figures of the twentieth century. A comprehensive compilation of his work on dreams, this popular book is without parallel. Skilfully weaving a narrative that encompasses all of his major themes—mysticism, religion, culture, and symbolism—Jung brings a wealth of allusion to the...

Bertrand Russell was renowned for his provocative views on education. Considered an educational innovator, Russell attempted to create the perfect learning institution. Despite the failure of this practical vision, it did not stop him from continuing to strive towards inventing and arguing for a system of education free from repression. In Education and the Social Order, Russell dissects the motives...

The title is just the first of many startling asides, observations and insights that fill this guide to Hollywood on the Lacanian psychoanalyst’s couch. Zizek introduces the ideas of Jacques Lacan through the medium of American film, taking his examples from over 100 years of cinema, from Charlie Chaplin to The Matrix and referencing along the way such figures as...

'Richly documented and convincingly presented' – New Society Mods and Rockers, skinheads, video nasties, designer drugs, bogus asylum seekers, and hoodies. Every era has its own moral panics. It was Stanley Cohen’s classic account, first published in the early 1970s and regularly revised, that brought the term ‘moral panic’ into widespread discussion. It is an outstanding investigation of the way...

One of the most talked-about scholarly works of the past fifty years, Judith Butler’s Gender Trouble is as celebrated as it is controversial. Arguing that traditional feminism is wrong to look to a natural, 'essential' notion of the female, or indeed of sex or gender, Butler starts by questioning the category 'woman' and continues in this vein with examinations of...

Karl Barth was, without doubt, one of the most significant religious thinkers of modern times. His radical affirmation of the revealed truth of Christianity changed the course of Christian theology in the twentieth century and is a source of inspiration for countless believers. Pope Pius XII declared that there had been nothing like Karl Barth's later thought since Thomas Aquinas....

Gravity and Grace was the first ever publication by the remarkable thinker and activist, Simone Weil. In it, Gustave Thibon, the farmer to whom she had entrusted her notebooks before her untimely death, compiled in one remarkable volume a compendium of her writings that have become a source of spiritual guidance and wisdom for countless individuals. On the fiftieth anniversary...

In this classic account of madness, Michel Foucault shows once and for all why he is one of the most distinguished European philosophers since the end of World War II. Madness and Civilization, Foucault's first book and his finest accomplishment, will change the way in which you think about society. Evoking shock, pity and fascination, it might also make you...

In this wonderful book, the famous scientist and best-selling author, Konrad Lorenz, known as 'the man who talked with animals', enlightens and entertains us with his illustrated account of the unique relationship between humans and their pets. Displaying Lorenz's customary humanity and expert knowledge of animals, Man Meets Dog is also a deeply personal and entertaining account of his relationships...

One of the most fascinating men of his generation, W.H.R. Rivers was a British doctor and psychiatrist as well as a leading ethnologist. Immortalised as the hero of Pat Barker's award-winning Regeneration trilogy, Rivers was the clinician who, in the First World War, cared for the poet Siegfried Sassoon and other infantry officers injured on the western front. His researches...

If the Western world knows anything about Zen Buddhism, it is down to the efforts of one remarkable man, D.T. Suzuki. The twenty-seven-year-old Japanese scholar first visited the West in 1897, and over the course of the next seventy years became the world's leading authority on Zen. His radical and penetrating insights earned him many disciples, from Carl Jung to...

Jung's discovery of the collective unconscious, a psychic inheritance common to all humankind, transformed the understanding of the self and the way we interpret the world. In On the Nature of the Psyche, Jung describes this remarkable theory in his own words, and presents a masterly overview of his theories of the unconscious, and its relation to the conscious mind....

Few have had quite as much impact in both the academy and in the world of theatre production as Richard Schechner. For more than four decades, his work has challenged conventional definitions of theatre, ritual, and performance. When this seminal collection first appeared, Schechner's approach was not only novel, it was revolutionary: drama is not just something that occurs on...

Movies matter – that is the message of Reel to Real, bell hooks’ classic collection of essays on film. They matter on a personal level, providing us with unforgettable moments, even life-changing experiences, and they can confront us, too, with the most profound social issues of race, sex, and class. Here bell hooks – one of America’s most celebrated and...

History means many things to many people. But finding an answer to the question What is history? is a task few feel equipped to answer. If you want to explore this tantalising subject, where do you start? What are the critical skills you need to begin to make sense of the past? The perfect introduction to this thought-provoking area, Jenkins'...

Known for speaking with the birds, for professing poverty, receiving the stigmata, and for initiating the Franciscan order, Francis of Assisi is one of the most radical and inspiring figures in Christianity. In this outstanding and celebrated biography, the distinguished medievalist Jacques Le Goff paints a fascinating picture of the life of Francis of Assisi. Locating Francis in the feudal...

One of the foremost scientists and thinkers of our time, David Bohm worked alongside Oppenheimer and Einstein. In Science, Order and Creativity, he and physicist F. David Peat propose a return to greater creativity and communication in the sciences. They ask for a renewed emphasis on ideas rather than formulae, on the whole rather than fragments, and on meaning rather...

During the First World War, the pioneer anthropologist Bronislaw Malinowski found himself stranded on the Trobriand Islands, off the eastern coast of New Guinea. By living among the people he studied there, speaking their language and participating in their activities, he invented what became known as participant-observation. This new type of ethnographic study was to have a huge impact on...

Television: Technology and Cultural Form was first published in 1974, long before the dawn of multi-channel TV, or the reality and celebrity shows that now pack the schedules. Yet Williams' analysis of television's history, its institutions, programmes and practices, and its future prospects, remains remarkably prescient. Williams stresses the importance of technology in shaping the cultural form of television, while...

In 1961 Christopher Hill first published what has come to be acknowledged as the best concise history of the period, The Century of Revolution. Stimulating, vivid and provocative, his graphic depiction of the turbulent era examines ordinary English men and women as well as kings and queens. Hill argued that the Civil War was driven by the conflict between the...

One of A.J.P. Taylor's best-known books, The Course of German History is a notoriously idiosyncratic work. Composed in his famously witty style, yet succinct to the point of sharpness, this is one of the great historian's finest, if more controversial, accomplishments. As Taylor himself noted, 'the history of the Germans is a history of extremes. It contains everything except moderation.'...

Fairies fascinate young and old alike. To some, they offer tantalising glimpses of other worlds; to others, a subversive counterpoint to human arrogance and weakness. Like no other author, Katharine Briggs throughout her work communicated the thrill and delight of the world of fairies, and in this book, she articulated for the first time the history of that world in...

Erich Fromm sees right to the heart of our contradictory needs for community and for freedom like no other writer before or since. In The Fear of Freedom, Fromm warns that the price of community is indeed high, and it is the individual who pays. Fascism and authoritarianism may seem like receding shadows for some, but are cruel realities for...

The history of Western art is saturated with images of the female body. Lynda Nead's The Female Nude was the first book to critically examine this phenomenon from a feminist perspective and ask: how and why did the female nude acquire this status? In a deft and engaging manner, Lynda Nead explores the ways in which acceptable and unacceptable images...

The history of Western art is saturated with images of the female body. Lynda Nead's The Female Nude was the first book to critically examine this phenomenon from a feminist perspective and ask: how and why did the female nude acquire this status? In a deft and engaging manner, Lynda Nead explores the ways in which acceptable and unacceptable images...

Helping both parents and psychologists to arrive at a better understanding of the inner emotional world of the infant, this selection of key lectures by Bowlby includes the seminal one that gives the volume its title. Informed by wide clinical experience, and written with the author's well-known humanity and lucidity, the lectures provide an invaluable introduction to John Bowlby’s thought...

With a new Introduction by the author An elegant and sane little book. – The New Statesman Myths, as Mary Midgley argues in this powerful book, are everywhere. In political thought, they sit at the heart of theories of human nature and the social contract; in economics, in the pursuit of self-interest; and in science, the idea of human beings...