Liberty is indispensable to flourishing societies the world over.

Its story contains multitudes – humanity’s eternal struggle with fate, our ancestors’ long quest to establish freedom of thought and freedom of religion, the rise of democratic liberties in society at large and the modern fight against authoritarian politics and tyrants everywhere. In this anthology of essays, leading academics, writers and historians explore what liberty has meant through the ages. They reflect on this great drama of freedom at work and why we so readily suffer to defend liberty when it comes under threat.

Text by Kemi Badenoch, John Bew, Adrian Bradshaw, Hal Brands, Richard Chartres, Christopher Coker, Marie Kawthar Daouda, Peter Frankopan, Jessica Frazier, Francis Gavin, Matthew Goodwin, Katja Hoyer, Jeremy Jennings, Robert Johnson, Alexander Lee, Margaret Macmillan, Janne Haaland Matláry, Richard Miles, Fraser Nelson, Jesse Norman, Iuliia Osmolovska, Charly Salonius Pasternak, Agnès C. Poirier, Alina Polyakova, Sergey Radchenko, Juliet Samuel, Mary Sarotte, Kori Schake, Mark J. Schiefsky, Brendan Simms, Alexander Mccall Smith, Roel Sterckx, Merryn Somerset Webb, Jonas Wikman...