Freedom: Freedom in the Modern World

by Orlando Patterson

This is the second part of Orland Patterson's two-volume work examining freedom. The first volume, focusing on freedom in the ancient world, was published in 1991 to wide acclaim. This concluding volume chronicles the quest for freedom from the 17th century to today. Patterson demonstrates that contrary to popular belief, freedom in the West did not emerge coincidentally with capitalism, but rather that there had been an unbroken continuity between the most ancient and modern conceptions of freedom.

448 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1991

About the author

Orlando Patterson is John Cowles Professor of Sociology at Harvard University; the author of Freedom in the Making of Western Culture, which won the National Book Award for Nonfiction, and Slavery and Social Death; and the editor of The Cultural Matrix: Understanding Black Youth, for which he was awarded the Anisfield-Wolf Book Award for Lifetime Achievement. His work has been honored by the American Sociological Association and the American Political Science Association, among others, and he is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He served as Special Advisor for Social Policy and Development to Jamaican Prime Minister Michael Manley and was awarded the Order of Distinction by the Government of Jamaica.