"Philosophical anthropology on the grandest scale. . . .Gellner has produced a sharp challenge to his colleagues and a thrilling book for the non-specialist. Deductive history on this scale cannot be proved right or wrong, but this is Gellner writing, incisive, iconoclastic, witty and expert. His scenario compels our attention."-Adam Kuper, "New Statesman"
"A thoughtful and lively meditation upon probably the greatest transformation in human history, upon the difficult problems it poses and the scant resources it has left us to solve them."-Charles Larmore, "New Republic"

Ernest Gellner's political philosophy in this volume combines the down-to-earth realism of political sociology with a rational treatment of the normative issues of traditional political thought.