ABSTRACT
A prolific and varied literature inundates the field of comparative politics. A discussion provides a brief overview of fundamental works that may be useful, not only to scholars and specialists with particular interests but to teachers and students who must contend with comparative politics in their classes. This chapter discusses trends in the earlier period only to reflect on developments since 1980. It follows a similar pattern by examining the evolution of comparative literature, cross-national studies, and comparative periodicals. A generation ago Harry Eckstein provided an overview of the held from the time of the Greek political philosophers; there have also been useful reviews through the American Political Science Association and at various conferences. The May 1968 conference at New York University served to launch the quarterly journal Comparative Politics, and twenty years later a commemorative conference at New York University provided a reassessment and an important anthology of papers edited by Dankwart Rustow and Kenneth Erickson.
