Writing in a manner accessible to a lay audience (as well as the expected student audience and, aspirationally, politicians), Swift (political theory, U. of Warwick, England) presents a primer on key contending positions in political philosophy, focusing his attention on explaining different (mainly Western) approaches to the key concepts of social justice, equality, community, and democracy; so chosen because they are the concepts that come up most often in political debate. For this third edition he has brought the suggestions for further reading up to date and added discussions of global justice and gender equality as they relate to the key concepts. Distributed in the US by Wiley. Annotation ©2014 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)