The English Levellers (Cambridge Texts in the History of Political Thought)

This anthology of the standard Leveller texts is definitive. The writings themselves are somewhat wordy but often eloquent, as is typical for writing of this period. The real reason to read this is for its inspiring prefiguring of modern democratic theory: this is a forgotten classic that speaks with poignant authority through the centuries. The Putney extracts are perhaps its strongest moment, with figures of the time hashing out subtle issues of king/subject relations.