A Classical Republican in Eighteenth-Century France: The Political Thought of Mably

Rating:
Summary: Great insight into source of 3 branches of U.S. government
Review: This is a scholarly book, which means (I suppose) that it's history NOT written as a novel. But it's admirably written nonetheless, and even, sometimes, beautifully written. It treats the history of French thought at one of its most productive stages just before the Revolution. Americans will find it fascinating as a peek at the roots of our three branches of government. Mably comes into focus as a morose little 18th century hermit, but his ideas come into greater focus as still shaping the way we think our own Supreme Court ought to relate to Bill Clinton, and how Monsieur Clinton ought to relate to Congress. I'm no historian, but I doff my hat to any historian bold enough to say, as this author does, that previous writers of French history have sometimes been trapped in "the neuralgic zone." Hear, hear!

Rating:
Summary: Great insight into source of 3 branches of U.S. government
Review: This is a scholarly book, which means (I suppose) that it's history NOT written as a novel. But it's admirably written nonetheless, and even, sometimes, beautifully written. It treats the history of French thought at one of its most productive stages just before the Revolution. Americans will find it fascinating as a peek at the roots of our three branches of government. Mably comes into focus as a morose little 18th century hermit, but his ideas come into greater focus as still shaping the way we think our own Supreme Court ought to relate to Bill Clinton, and how Monsieur Clinton ought to relate to Congress. I'm no historian, but I doff my hat to any historian bold enough to say, as this author does, that previous writers of French history have sometimes been trapped in "the neuralgic zone." Hear, hear!