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