Composed of three connected essays, this volume explores theoretical understanding and human conduct in general, the ideal mode of human relationship, which the author calls "civil association", and the ambiguous, historic association commonly called a modern European state. `Oakeshott presents three essays: on the theoretical understanding of human conduct, on the civil condition as the ideal mode of human association, and on the modern European state ... this book is rather like a long elegant conversation - sometimes rather abstract, always with a keen eye for concrete exemplification, learned, analytical, and full of trenchant insights.' Library Journal