Focusing on the 17th and 18th centuries, this volume centers around six ideological isms that the author seeks to exploit as well as deconstruct. The six isms are absolutism, constitutionalism, rationalism, empiricism, liberalism, and conservatism-all of which have long presented problematical constructs that the author seeks to de-construct. The unusually broad range of famous thinkers studied here includes Hobbes, Locke, Richelieu, Bossuet, Rousseau, Montesquieu, Voltaire, Hume, Smith, Burke, and various French revolutionaries. Although the focus here is historical, the contemporary import of the subject is often brought out.