Brian Barry (1) (1936–2009)

As evidenced by this book, Barry is clearly brilliant. He provides deep insight into a variety of topics which remain as relevant today as they were when he wrote his manuscript. In particular, he does an excellent job of addressing and deconstructing the arguments put forth by authors proposing the legal enshrinement of multiculturalism.

Despite his brilliance, however, Barry's book feels disorganized and lacking in overarching purpose. While all of the chapters address different aspects of multiculturalism, the work lacks a feeling of an overall argument--instead, I got the sense that Barry merely jumps from one argument to another, rarely even bothering to illustrate their connection.… (meer)

This political philosophy book was first published in the 1960s and then reissued on a couple of occasions. I don't have any substantial complaints; the author is clearly a first rate philosophers and he does some very thorough work in this book as he investigates political concepts and principles. His analysis of interest was reasonably interesting. However, I probably wouldn't have read this book unless it had been reissued as a "classic". And having read it, I don't think the reissue was really warranted. This isn't a work for the ages which could profitably be read 50 years later. Instead, it is tied quite closely to the debates of its time. I read this book very selectively and skipped several chapters which seemed outdated or uninteresting.… (meer)