Overview

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A “visionary” (The Guardian) exploration of freedom—what it is, how it’s been misunderstood, and why it’s our only chance for survival—by the acclaimed Yale historian and author of On Tyranny “[Snyder’s] deep political and philosophical examination of how to . . . create and sustain freedom provides a hopeful view for the future.”—Los Angeles Times Timothy Snyder has been called “the leading interpreter of our dark times.” As a historian, he has given us startling reinterpretations of political collapse and mass killing. As a public intellectual, he has turned that knowledge toward counsel and prediction, working against authoritarianism here and abroad. His book On Tyranny has inspired millions around the world to fight for freedom. Now, in this tour de force of political philosophy, he helps us see exactly what we’re fighting for. Freedom is the great American commitment, but as Snyder argues, we have lost sight of what it means—and this is leading us into crisis. Too many of us look at freedom as the absence of state power: We think we're free if we can do and say as we please, and protect ourselves from government overreach. But true freedom isn’t so much freedom from as freedom to—the freedom to thrive, to take risks for futures we choose by working together. Freedom is the value that makes all other values possible. On Freedom takes us on a thrilling intellectual journey. Drawing on the work of philosophers and political dissidents, conversations with contemporary thinkers, and his own experiences coming of age in a time of American exceptionalism, Snyder identifies the practices and attitudes—the habits of mind—that will allow us to design a government in which we and future generations can flourish. We come to appreciate the importance of traditions (championed by the right) but also the role of institutions (the purview of the left). Intimate yet ambitious, this book helps forge a new consensus rooted in a politics of abundance, generosity, and grace.

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9780593728741

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Reviews

“Stimulating . . . With all his deep absorption in Eastern Europe, Snyder has no illusions about the dilemma of freedom in his own country. Apart from his work as a professor, he teaches prisoners, which gives him a keener appreciation of the unique horrors of American mass incarceration.”—The New York Times “[A] timely manifesto for our fearful age . . . Snyder knows how precious and fragile freedom is because he has studied and, in Ukraine, even seen what happens to people when brutes take it away. . . . His knowledge of tyranny is invaluable in analyzing freedom. But Snyder’s book goes well beyond history. . . . [which] makes On Freedom intellectually rich, yet personal.”—Financial Times “[Snyder’s] deep political and philosophical examination of . . . how to create and sustain freedom provides a hopeful view for the future.”—Los Angeles Times “The pace is breathtaking, the writing fluid, and the knowledge deep.”—The Spectator “A rigorous and visionary argument, and one deeply rooted in Snyder’s own biography—he begins with his memories of ringing the family Liberty Bell on his Ohio farm, as a ten-year-old on Independence Day. He has subsequently done nearly all of his thinking about these ideas not on a screen but in interactions with those who feel the presence and absence of freedom most keenly: from Ukrainian pensioners caught up in never-ending conflict to the inmates of a high-security prison, where he teaches a course on liberation. . . . Buy or borrow this book, read it, take it to heart.”—The Guardian “Ambitious . . . An incisive, urgently relevant analysis of—and call to action on—America’s foundational ideal.”—Kirkus Reviews “Pensive yet urgent, this meditation is itself an exercise of intellectual freedom.”—Booklist “In these hard times for liberty, On Freedom offers a deep inquiry arising from a diversity of perspectives. . . . We are all fortunate that Timothy Snyder has shown us the way.”—President Volodymyr Zelens’kyi “Timothy Snyder is one of our most original and perceptive thinkers, on the history of Europe, on American politics, and now, on freedom. Everyone who cares about freedom—what it means and what it takes to preserve it—should read this book.”—Anne Applebaum, author of Twilight of Democracy “Insightful and powerful . . . In this magnificent meditation on the nature and meaning of humanity, Timothy Snyder rejects the idea that freedom is merely the absence of restraint.”—Heather Cox Richardson, author of Democracy Awakening “A must-read. Timothy Snyder is one of the leading minds of our times.”—Thomas Piketty, author of Capital in the Twenty-First Century “What more can any of us want than a reminder that our freedom, in being the most powerful future tense we have, gives more deliberate meaning to our todays.”—Dwayne Betts, author of A Question of Freedom “[A] wonderfully provocative and profoundly persuasive book.”—J.J. Abrams

Author Information

Timothy Snyder holds the Temerty Chair in Modern European History at the Munk School, University of Toronto, and is a permanent fellow at the Institute for Human Sciences in Vienna. His books, which have been published in over forty languages, include Bloodlands, Black Earth, On Tyranny, The Road to Unfreedom, Our Malady, and On Freedom. His work has inspired poster campaigns and exhibitions, sculptures, a punk rock song, a rap song, a play, and an opera, and he has appeared in over fifty films and documentaries.

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