Professor Nathan Tarcov's scholarly interests include history of political theory, education and family in political theory, and principles of U.S. foreign policy. He is author of Locke's Education for Liberty, translator (with Harvey C. Mansfield, Jr.) of Niccolò Machivavelli's Discourses on Livy, and editor (with Clifford Orwin) of The Legacy of Rousseau. He is one of the coordinators of the Political Theory Workshop.
In addition to Locke, Machiavelli, and Rousseau, Nathan Tarcov has written on The Federalist, Leo Strauss, foreign policy, education, democracy, tyranny, and constitutionalism, and has also taught courses on Thucydides, Xenophon, Plato, Livy, Tacitus, Plutarch, Boccaccio, Shakespeare, Burke, Clausewitz, Nietzsche, James Fennimore Cooper, and Mark Twain.
Professor Tarcov has been recognized for excellence in undergraduate teaching, receiving the University's Quantrell Award in 1997.