Monopoly and King Mob: A Reader [Paperback]

Liberty and Power takes readers through a documentary tour of the timeless and fundamental social conflict between individuals seeking liberty from external control and those seeking power over others.From the ancient origins of their craft, historians have used their work to defend the interests of established powerful interests and regimes. In the modern period, and especially in recent decades, however, a necessary corrective has taken place. Monopoly & King Mob provides readers with dozens of documents from the Early Modern and Modern periods to suggest that the best history is that which accounts for change both 'from above' and 'from below' in the social hierarchy. When we ignore average and marginalized people to endlessly study states, politicians, military leaders, great business leaders, and elite philosophers, we skew our view of how the world became the way it is and we risk further concentrating power in the hands of a privileged few.ContentsIntroduction: Class, Civilization, and CyclesThe Liberal Model of HistoryPart One: Theory1. Art as Ideas: Thomas Coles The Course of Empire (1836)2. John Ponet, A Short Treatise on Political Power (1556)3. Anonymous to Thomas Jefferson, November 30, 18084. Levi Slamm, Daily Plebeian, July 2, 18425. European Views of American Democracy, United States Magazine and Democratic Review, vol. 1, no. 1 (1837)6. John L. OSullivan, Political Tolerance, United States Magazine and Democratic Review, vol. 3, no. 9 (1838)7. Fran?ois Pierre Guillaume Guizot, History of Civilization in Europe, trans. William Hazlitt (New York: Colonial Press, 1846)8. Levi Slamm and Michael Walsh, Great Meeting of the Mechanics and Working Men at Tammany Hall! Daily Plebeian, October 19, 1842Part Two: Practice9. The Law of the Salian Franks (first compiled ca. 500)10. The Visigothic Code (Forum judicum), ed. S. P. Scott11. The Canons of Adamnan, or the Law of Innocents (ca. 697)12. Privileges and Prerogatives Granted by Their CatholĂ,