Publisher's Synopsis
Written by Thomas Hobbes during the English Civil War and first published in 1651, Leviathan is a classic Western work concerning the structure of government according to the social contract theory. Named after the biblical Leviathan, a huge sea creature described in several Old Testament books, Hobbes argues that the best form of government is a powerful, undivided one under the authority of an absolute sovereign. Alacrity Press is proud to reprint this classic work of Enlightenment philosophy and political science.