Explanatory annotations make Hobbes's sometimes archaic prose accessible to students. The text is based on the 1909 Oxford University Press edition, which in turn was based on one of the most fully corrected copies of the text that was widely available to readers in the seventeenth century. The editors have also noted variations between this text and other authoritative editions.

Backgrounds includes writings on Hobbes's life; selections from his responses to criticism of the book; and criticism and reactions to the work by Sir Robert Filmer, James Harrington, Bishop Bramhall, Edward Hyde (the earl of Clarendon), Gottfried Wilheim Leibniz, Montesquieu, and Henry Sedgwick.

Interpretations collects eight of the most important assessments of Hobbes and Leviathan written in the last forty years, including writings by Leo Strauss, Michael Oakeshott, Johann P. Sommerville, Richard Tuck, Jean Hampton, David Johnston, George Kateb, and Richard E. Flathman.

Also included in this edition are a Selected Bibliography, Glossary of Terms, and Index of Authorities Cited in the work.