Philosophy · Similar reads
Books like The Social Contract
The best books like The Social Contract are The Republic, The Prince, and The Communist Manifesto. The Social Contract by Jean-Jacques Rousseau is about political legitimacy, sovereignty, freedom. If that's what drew you in, here are 12 books that share its DNA — each summarized on Superbook, and ready to chat with in the app.
- The Republic
01
Plato · Philosophy
The Republic is Plato's most ambitious work, a sustained inquiry into the nature of justice staged as a dialogue among Socrates and his companions in Athens.
A kindred philosophy read.
Read the summary → - The Prince
02
Niccolò Machiavelli · Philosophy
The Prince is Machiavelli's short treatise on how to acquire, hold, and exercise political power.
A kindred philosophy read.
Read the summary → - The Communist Manifesto
03
Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels · History
Published in 1848 on the eve of a wave of European revolutions, The Communist Manifesto is a short political pamphlet that has shaped more history than almost any other document of its length.
A kindred philosophy read.
Read the summary →
- Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind
04
Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind
Yuval Noah Harari · History
Sapiens traces the full arc of human history from the emergence of Homo sapiens in Africa roughly 70,000 years ago to the present.
A kindred philosophy read.
Read the summary → - Being and Nothingness
05
Jean-Paul Sartre · Philosophy
Being and Nothingness is Sartre's major philosophical treatise and the founding text of French existentialism.
Both dig into freedom.
Read the summary → - Existentialism Is a Humanism
06
Jean-Paul Sartre · Philosophy
Existentialism Is a Humanism began as a 1945 lecture Sartre gave to a packed Paris hall in response to critics who called existentialism pessimistic, quietist, and dangerous.
Both dig into freedom.
Read the summary → - Leviathan
07
Thomas Hobbes · Philosophy
Leviathan, published in 1651 in the aftermath of the English Civil War, is one of the founding texts of modern political philosophy.
Both dig into sovereignty.
Read the summary → - The Courage to Be Disliked
08
Ichiro Kishimi & Fumitake Koga · Philosophy
The Courage to Be Disliked presents Alfred Adler's philosophy of individual psychology through a Socratic dialogue between a young man and a philosopher.
Both dig into freedom.
Read the summary → - The Myth of Sisyphus
09
Albert Camus · Philosophy
The Myth of Sisyphus begins with what Camus calls the only truly serious philosophical question: why not commit suicide?
Both dig into freedom.
Read the summary → - The Second Sex
10
Simone de Beauvoir · Philosophy
The Second Sex is Simone de Beauvoir's 1949 examination of the situation of women — why they have been defined as "Other" throughout human history, how that otherness is constructed and maintained, and what it would mean to be free of it.
Both dig into freedom.
Read the summary → - Common Sense
11
Thomas Paine · History
Common Sense, published in January 1776, is a forty-seven-page pamphlet that argued for American independence from Britain with a directness and reach that no previous colonial publication had achieved.
Both dig into political legitimacy.
Read the summary → - Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl
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Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl
Harriet Jacobs · Memoir
Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, published in 1861 under the pseudonym Linda Brent, is Harriet Jacobs's account of her life as an enslaved woman in North Carolina, her resistance to her enslaver's sexual harassment, her years in hiding, and her eventual escape to the North.
Both dig into freedom.
Read the summary →
Books like The Social Contract: quick answers
What are the best books like The Social Contract?
The best books like The Social Contract by Jean-Jacques Rousseau are The Republic by Plato, The Prince by Niccolò Machiavelli, The Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari, Being and Nothingness by Jean-Paul Sartre, plus 7 more below. Each was chosen for themes it shares with The Social Contract, such as political legitimacy, sovereignty, freedom.
What should I read after The Social Contract?
A natural next read after The Social Contract is The Republic by Plato. A kindred philosophy read. Other strong choices are The Prince by Niccolò Machiavelli, The Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari.
What books are similar to The Social Contract by Jean-Jacques Rousseau?
The Social Contract centers on political legitimacy, sovereignty, freedom. Books with a similar feel include The Republic by Plato, The Prince by Niccolò Machiavelli, The Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari, Being and Nothingness by Jean-Paul Sartre, Existentialism Is a Humanism by Jean-Paul Sartre — all free to read and chat with on Superbook.
