This book provides a major study for all those working in the fields of sixteenth- and seventeenth-century political and social thought.

Preface; Introduction; 1. Utopia and the ideal society: in search of a definition; 2. The re-emergence of utopia: Sir Thomas More; 3. The re-emergence of utopia: the European experience 1521-1619; 4. Robert Burton and the anatomy of utopia; 5. Sir Francis Bacon and the ideal society; 6. Samuel Gott's New Jerusalem; 7. Gerrard Winstanley and the Restoration of True Magistracy; 8. James Harrington's Oceana; 9. The Harringtonians; 10. Royalism and utopia; 11. The full-employment utopia of seventeenth-century England; Conclusion; Bibliographies; Index.