Despite not being an active participant in the English Civil War, seventeenth-century political thinker James Harrington exercised an important influence on the ideas and politics of that crucial period of history. In The Commonwealth of Oceana he sought to explain why civil war had broken out in 1642, to put the case for commonwealth government, and to offer a detailed constitutional blueprint for a new and successful English government. In this intellectual biography of Harrington, Rachel Hammersley sets a fresh analysis of this and Harrington's other writings against the background of his life and the turbulent period in which he lived. In doing so, this study seeks to move beyond the conventional view of Harrington as primarily a republican thinker, offering a broader and more comprehensive account of him which addresses the complexity of his republicanism as well as exploring his contributions to economic, historical, religious, philosophical, and scientific debates; his experimentation with vocabulary and literary form; and the relationship between his life and thought. Harrington is presented as an innovative political thinker, committed to democracy, social mobility, and meritocracy. Ultimately, this broader examination of Harrington's life and work opens a window on political, economic, religious, and scientific issues which serve to complicate understandings of the English Revolution, and sheds fresh light on the relevance of seventeenth-century ideas to the modern world.

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Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book. Sample Book Insights: #1 The history of wealth management shows that the profession has evolved from amateurs to a profession that impacts contemporary global politics and finance. However, this study shows that professionals have not replaced social trusteeship with the pursuit of profit; rather, they coexist in uneasy tension with one another. #2 The work of wealth managers is governed by an aristocratic code based on service, loyalty, and honor. They defend large concentrations of wealth from attack by outsiders. #3 The practice of trusteeship, which is the transfer of title to an adult male friend or relative while the original landowner is still alive, was developed to solve the problems of land seizures and taxes. It was a method of applying two forms of ownership to a single property. #4 The system of trusts, which was in place in England, America, and other common-law countries, allowed elites to preserve their wealth by transferring it into trust. This was done by evading the laws that threatened to dissipate dynastic wealth.