"'Liberty' and its role in the American Founding has been wrapped in so many veils of modern analyses, politics, social conflicts, morality, and hindsight that the only way for us to more fully recover its actual nature is to historicize our subject as deeply as possible." So states Rozbicki (American history, Saint Louis U.) in his introductory essay. His study investigates in detail how 18th-century people understood the concept of liberty, and he offers new insight into the cultural context of the early years of this country and the founders' paradoxical "commitment to inequality." Annotation 2011 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)
