Freedom's Progress? : A History of Political Thought

In Freedom''s Progress?, Gerard Casey argues that the progress of freedom has largely consisted in an intermittent and imperfect transition from tribalism to individualism, from the primacy of the collective to the fragile centrality of the individual person and of freedom. Such a transition is, he argues, neither automatic nor complete, nor are relapses to tribalism impossible. The reason for the fragility of freedom is simple: the importance of individual freedom is simply not obvious to everyone. Most people want security in this world, not liberty. ''Libertarians,’ writes Max Eastman, ‘used to tell us that \"the love of freedom is the strongest of political motives