On Freedom

“A rigorous and visionary argument . . . Buy or borrow this book, read it, take it to heart.”—The Guardian

Freedom is the great American commitment, but we have lost sight of what it means. Too many of us look at freedom as the absence of state power, argues Timothy Snyder: 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 an “insightful and powerful” (Heather Cox Richardson) 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. Intimate yet ambitious, this book helps forge a new consensus rooted in a politics of abundance, generosity, and grace.