Liberty is fortunate to have such a reasoned and persuasive voice as its champion.
A sharp examination of the idea of liberty in the modern, democratic state.
Fried (Constitutional Law/Harvard) begins his discussion by offering “three gentle challenges,” three seemingly benign, democratically approved modern laws—Quebec’s Charter of the French Language, Canada’s government-funded medical system, Vermont’s anti–Wal-Mart regulation—and asks whether they constitute objectionable impositions on liberty. Each of these examples offers an eminently defensible “vision of the good” to compensate for any liberties denied. All three provide excellent instances of the questions inherent in the author’s distinctively modern consideration of liberty. He first examines ideals that compete with liberty—beauty and equality—then widens the lens to include notions of liberty and rights, including contract, property, states’ and natural rights. A particularly arresting chapter discusses sex, an anarchic force that governments perennially try to regulate while people see such regulation as “an offense to liberty even greater than governments’ attempts to control what they think, say, and hear.” Fried fulfills his pledge to make this “a book not for lawyers or academics, but for human beings” by presenting with humor many contemporary examples that make difficult concepts easy to grasp. It’s a tribute to the author’s seriousness and good will that he makes a strong and vigorous case for both sides of each argument before finally finding all three cited laws offensive to our liberty. This conclusion will surprise few familiar with the politics of the former Solicitor General of the Reagan Justice Department, but even those predisposed to disagree will find it hard to counter his rigorous arguments.
Liberty is fortunate to have such a reasoned and persuasive voice as its champion.Pub Date: Nov. 6, 2006
ISBN: 0-393-06000-4
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Norton
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2006
BOOK REVIEW
For Howard Zinn, long-time civil rights and anti-war activist, history and ideology have a lot in common. Since he thinks that everything is in someone's interest, the historian—Zinn posits—has to figure out whose interests he or she is defining/defending/reconstructing (hence one of his previous books, The Politics of History). Zinn has no doubts about where he stands in this "people's history": "it is a history disrespectful of governments and respectful of people's movements of resistance." So what we get here, instead of the usual survey of wars, presidents, and institutions, is a survey of the usual rebellions, strikes, and protest movements. Zinn starts out by depicting the arrival of Columbus in North America from the standpoint of the Indians (which amounts to their standpoint as constructed from the observations of the Europeans); and, after easily establishing the cultural disharmony that ensued, he goes on to the importation of slaves into the colonies. Add the laborers and indentured servants that followed, plus women and later immigrants, and you have Zinn's amorphous constituency. To hear Zinn tell it, all anyone did in America at any time was to oppress or be oppressed; and so he obscures as much as his hated mainstream historical foes do—only in Zinn's case there is that absurd presumption that virtually everything that came to pass was the work of ruling-class planning: this amounts to one great indictment for conspiracy. Despite surface similarities, this is not a social history, since we get no sense of the fabric of life. Instead of negating the one-sided histories he detests, Zinn has merely reversed the image; the distortion remains.
Pub Date: Jan. 1, 1979
ISBN: 0061965588
Page Count: 772
Publisher: Harper & Row
Review Posted Online: May 26, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 1979
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Worthwhile reference stuffed with facts and illustrations.
A compendium of charts, time lines, lists and illustrations to accompany study of the Bible.
This visually appealing resource provides a wide array of illustrative and textually concise references, beginning with three sets of charts covering the Bible as a whole, the Old Testament and the New Testament. These charts cover such topics as biblical weights and measures, feasts and holidays and the 12 disciples. Most of the charts use a variety of illustrative techniques to convey lessons and provide visual interest. A worthwhile example is “How We Got the Bible,” which provides a time line of translation history, comparisons of canons among faiths and portraits of important figures in biblical translation, such as Jerome and John Wycliffe. The book then presents a section of maps, followed by diagrams to conceptualize such structures as Noah’s Ark and Solomon’s Temple. Finally, a section on Christianity, cults and other religions describes key aspects of history and doctrine for certain Christian sects and other faith traditions. Overall, the authors take a traditionalist, conservative approach. For instance, they list Moses as the author of the Pentateuch (the first five books of the Hebrew Bible) without making mention of claims to the contrary. When comparing various Christian sects and world religions, the emphasis is on doctrine and orthodox theology. Some chapters, however, may not completely align with the needs of Catholic and Orthodox churches. But the authors’ leanings are muted enough and do not detract from the work’s usefulness. As a resource, it’s well organized, inviting and visually stimulating. Even the most seasoned reader will learn something while browsing.
Worthwhile reference stuffed with facts and illustrations.Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2005
ISBN: 978-1-5963-6022-8
Page Count: -
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 23, 2010
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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