Discourse on Voluntary Servitude - Etienne de La Boétie.
There are a lot of references about european cultures in it, especially greek antiquity so you might not have all the background to understand them all, but the idea conveyed mostly that people are responsible for a tyrant to rule on them) doesn't really recquire to know them. If you are curious though, you can learn much more than just the content of the book and extend it to knowledge about what shaped european civilizations like France or Italy.
