Democracy in America, published in 1835 and 1840, challenged conventional thinking about democracy when it first appeared and is still cited today for its in-depth analysis of what makes a successful democracy.

Crosby's landmark 1972 work argues that environmental factors shape our history just as much as-and sometimes more than-human factors.

Sen's 1997 work argues that the success or failure of international development cannot be measured by income alone.

Amartya Sen's Inequality Re-Examined is a seminal text setting out a theory to evaluate social arrangements and inequality. By asking the question, 'equality of what'?, Sen shows that (in)equality should be assessed as human freedom; for people to have the ability to pursue and achieve goals they value or have reason to value.

How many books can claim to be so influential as to inspire the development of a whole school of thought? Metaphysics did exactly that, laying the foundations for a new branch of philosophy concerned with the cause and nature of being.

Politics was one of the first books to investigate the concept of political philosophy and the starting point of political science studies as we know them. Written in the fourth century B.C.E., it explores how best to create political communities that support, serve, and improve citizens.

Modernity at Large is an edited collection of the essays that made Appadurai an influential figure in cultural anthropology. Collectively, these not only present a theory of globalization, but also suggest ways that other researchers can follow up on the author's ideas. .

Some people imagine that nationhood is as old as civilization itself, but Anderson argues that "nation" and "nationalism" are products of the communication technologies of the modern age. With the invention and spread of printing, local languages gradually replaced Latin as the language of print.

In 1963's The Feminine Mystique, Betty Friedan challenged the vision 1950s America had of itself as a nation of happy housewives and contented families.

Our Common Future, produced in 1987 by a United Nations commission, responded to a growing number of environmental concerns faced by the global community.