The Nature of Political Theory. By Andrew Vincent. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004. 354p. $65.00.

Survey texts exercise considerable violence upon the thinkers and works they assess. Andrew Vincent is no pacifist. Yet his book succeeds admirably in gaining breadth without unduly sacrificing depth and subtlety. Vincent's encyclopedic knowledge (with more than 500 titles in the bibliography) is coupled with a sharp critical eye and refreshingly blunt appraisals. The result is a thoughtful and wide-ranging interpretation of twentieth-century Western political thought.