Modern Political and yirs.3rd ed.

As you may have discovered, there are enthusiasts who appear to believe that most (if not all) important knowledge about politics can be found between the covers of a single book-or at least in the works of one author. If one studies my man X deeply enough, an enthusiast will say, one will find that he tells everything. The enthusiast's oracle most likely is some great name—Plato, Aristotle, Machiavelli, or Marx. But the oracle might turn out to be an ex-sportswriter, turned political pundit. I am reasonably sure that the search for a political oracle is in vain. For, I believe, it is a melancholy fact that no one has ever been wise enough to contribute more than a small fraction of what is known about politics.
Our enthusiast has a first cousin who insists that everything important has already been said in the great works of the past, as if wisdom, like wine, must be aged to make it better. Yet one may search long and hard in the great works and will not, I am quite sure, find as much about the operation of modern political parties, the American Congress, the political system of the USSR, or a great number of other topics, as one will find in recent studies.
For political institutions change. Modern democracy simply is not equivalent to the Athenian political system or the Roman Republic. Also, the study of politics to some extent is cumulative. Indeed, on certain topics, knowledge increases almost annually. If someone were to ask, “How can I learn about what sorts of people participate most in politics, and why?" I would urge him to start with the most recent studies in the field and work back. I seriously doubt that he would get much help fromAristotle, Rousseau, or the Federalist Papers.