In this section-by-section commentary, Benardete argues that Plato’s Republic is a holistic analysis of the beautiful, the good, and the just. This book provides a fresh interpretation of the Republic and a new understanding of philosophy as practiced by Plato and Socrates. Cryptic allusions, startling paradoxes, new questions …all work to give brilliant new insights into the Platonic text. –Arlene W. Saxonhouse, Political Theory