The history of political thought: a very short introduction: by Richard Whatmore, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2021, 160 pp., £8.99/$11.95 (pb), ISBN 978-0-198853725.

We are living through a cultural moment in which strident criticisms are being made of the ethical validity and utility of the discipline of the history of political thought (H.P.T.). In Whatmore, the subject has a champion who makes a bold case for H.P.T.'s importance, defends it against often mistaken criticisms, yet also incorporates the productive elements of recent critiques. Whatmore's confidence in H.P.T.'s ability to inform current political thinking stems from the tenets that "past generations have faced comparable predicaments" and past generations have "experienced everything, and nothing at all is new" (8). [Extracted from the article]