"If there were a Nobel prize for political science, Sammy Finer would deserve to win one for this extraordinary trilogy--a work of scholarship so broad in its sympathies, so ambitious in scope and so elegantly crafted that it leaves the reader gasping, literally, with astonishment and delight...[L]ikely to be read as long as Aristotle. No finer work of political science...has been published in this century."--The Economist
A motivational message to prospective readers who are dismayed by the prospect of a three-volume set. You don't need to read all of it to get value for your money. You don't even need to read it in sequence (I did not). Perhaps the most accessible parts are in Volume III, especially Books IV ("The Re-creation of the State in Europe) and Book V ("Pathways to the Modern State"). From there you might want to go back to Volume II, specifically Part III of Book III, more precisely still Chapter 7 on "The Republican Alternatie: Florence and Venice," followed by Chapter 8 and its magisterial discussion of "Representative Assemblies." From there a natural course is back to Volume I and its discussion of Athens and Jerusalem (Finer is particularly good on the distinctive contribution to governance from the tradition of the prophets). This is a Western-centered view, and should not be read to distrct attention from Finer's extraordinary treatment of the Chinese, the Indians and the societies of the Middle East. But these are in some sense self-contained units and can be addressed on their own terms.
This backwards progression would leave for last the stuff that Finer put first: the "Conceptual Prologue," which is perhaps better understood as a summary and analysis. But whatever route you take, surely there is no end of riches in this extraordinary capstone to a great scholarly life, well lived.
Finer shows a mastery of every time and place in history. It is amazing that he can conver accurately and informatively Han civilization and then switch to an excellent discussion of Roman civilization. The same skill with which he reconstructs the governments of Sumer and Egypt is applied later to the constitutional monarchies and revolutionary governments in modern Europe.
Finer's masterpiece ought to be read by anyone interested in an objective study in how societies orgzanize themselves. It is a highly useful reference that should be owned by anyone who works with history on a regular basis.