Liberty Lost: The Rise and Demise of Voluntary Association in America Since Its Founding

by Robert E. Wright

Voluntary associations are thousands of years old, but Americans once embraced them like no other society has before, or since. Voluntary associations allow people, even members of disfranchised groups, to "vote" on worthy causes and institutions with their donation dollars and volunteer hours. Unfortunately, Americans have long since forgotten that the best way to palliate most economic and social problems is not formal government, the instruments of which are too often cruel or crude, but voluntary civil society. Maybe this book can help return this country to the truer, participatory, and voluntary form of democracy that it once knew.

About Robert E. Wright

Robert E. Wright is a Senior Research Fellow at the American Institute for Economic Research. He is the (co)author or (co)editor of over two dozen major books, book series, and edited collections, including AIER's The Best of Thomas Paine (2021) and Financial Exclusion (2019). He has also (co)authored numerous articles for important journals, including the American Economic Review, Business History Review, Independent Review, Journal of Private Enterprise, Review of Finance, and Southern Economic Review. Robert has taught business, economics, and policy courses at Augustana University, NYU's Stern School of Business, Temple University, the University of Virginia, and elsewhere since taking his Ph.D. in History from SUNY Buffalo in 1997.

About AIER

The American Institute for Economic Research in Great Barrington, Massachusetts, was founded in 1933 as the first independent voice for sound economics in the United States. Today it publishes ongoing research, hosts educational programs, and is home to the Bastiat Society. The American Institute for Economic Research is a 501c3 public charity.

Kindle Edition

Published September 10, 2023

About the author

Wright is the Nef Family Chair of Political Economy at Augustana College in Sioux Falls, S.D.

Reviews

[James · Rating 5 out of 5]

9.5/10

[Rebecca Berus · Rating 5 out of 5]

Liberty Lost offers a thought-provoking examination of the changing role of voluntary associations in American history. Robert E. Wright explores how charitable organizations, civic groups, and other forms of voluntary participation once played a significant role in American public life and considers what may have contributed to their decline.

I found the historical perspective particularly interesting because it connects institutions and individual participation to larger questions about liberty, democracy, community, and social responsibility.
The book encourages readers to reconsider how citizens have traditionally addressed social and economic challenges outside formal government structures. A valuable read for those interested in American history, economics, and civil society.

[Drtaxsacto · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am in the middle of writing a book on the phrase in the Declaration "The Pursuit of Happiness". One of the questions i have sought to answer has been what role did the charitable sector play in the importance of the phrase to the American experience. Wright's book is less conceptual than enclylopedic. But it is a very valuable resource - the charitable sector is an underlying part of key notions about how the pursuit of happiness fits into the American system. But the role of the sector and its relationship to the for profit and governmental sector has not been a static one. The three sectors have morphed in our history in importance. Bowling Alone did a summary of the data that shows the sector is declining but Wright shows the subtle changes that have happened among the three sectors. It is a valuable resource.