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The Discovery of Freedom: Man's Struggle Against Authority

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This philosophical history of freedom is not flawless but provides extraordinary insights as it traces the stages in the discovery of individual liberty from the earliest times. The work reveals salient discernment, uncovers forgotten history and shows unintended prescience. Explaining how the human mind works with standards of value, Lane identifies three crucial factors: the nature of human energy, the recognition of the human race as one & the quest for the ideal method for individuals to combine their energies.

Part One (The Old World) contains discussions of antiquity when life was viewed as cyclical and authority was absolute; Plato's dictatorship of the intellectuals & Spengler's theory of the rise & fall of civilizations; Communism, including the early collectivist experiments in the American colonies, and planned economies. The author points out that many revolutions just represent the turning of a wheel around a motionless center; a new gang replaces the old but individual freedom never materializes. Enormous waste occurs when authority is enforced in the production & distribution of material goods.

Part Two (The Old World) explores the steps that led to a free society in the USA. First there was Abraham who embraced the concept that God created human beings as free agents. Later there was Moses, the Ten Commandments and Israel under the Judges which was a libertarian society. Lane emphasizes the significance of Samuel's warning to the Israelites when they demanded a king. Her observations on antisemitism ring true and are confirmed by history: the Old World is alarmed at Israel and the hatred derives from the fear of freedom. It is always the tyrant that leads the attack on the Jewish people who have faithfully preserved their scriptures that proclaim the individual to be free.

Lane considers the second attempt to be the Islamic expansion which in its tolerant, golden age made lasting contributions in the spread & development of e.g. astronomy, mathematics and medicine. Unfortunately she quotes only a small, nice sentence from this religion's foundational document while ignoring Dhimmitude and the eventual decline and regression of this civilization. Britain became the next setting where freedom unfolded, in a type of benevolent feudal system. The Magna Carta was a charter of liberties within an entrenched social order. This however, was a grant of liberty, not the recognition of individual liberty. Despite not recognizing freedom as the inherent state of the human being, the British system did promote the concept of human rights for many centuries.

America represents the third attempt, the one that succeeded. Lane explores early American history and the radical new concept of individual freedom that developed amongst the colonists. She shows that the American Revolution had no single leader but erupted spontaneously amongst many. Self-sufficiency had undermined the Old World concept of authority. The colonists were traders who learnt about human nature, creation, wars, adventures, intrigues and family life from the Bible. They defied British laws restricting trade, smuggled to their hearts' content and chose to fight rather than conform & submit. Ten years before Lexington, American rebellion was in full swing. Finally, creativity won the battle against control.

For the first time, the individual was seen as the shaper of life & society. There was no conflict between religion & science as opposed to Europe where the French Enlightenment made a god of science. The American view as articulated by Thomas Paine considered the pursuit of science as the divine study of the works of God in creation. From the beginning, there was a profound difference between the Enlightenment of the Anglosphere and that of Continental Europe. Rose Wilder Lane cherished the mind that knows the individual is free as the most valuable thing in the world.

This section includes chapters on property rights, the Constitution, the right to vote, democracy, republicanism and the industrial revolution that gave birth to innumerable inventions and unimaginable wealth. The free use of energy is the quickest way to a better life, but minds take longer to change than actions. The revolutions of the 19th & 20th centuries in South America & Europe are covered in interesting detail. Lane believed the counter-revolution came from Germany because that country had never experienced Roman Law nor the proper application of the feudal concept of human rights. Anti-modernist ideologies like Fascism, Communism & Socialism all derive from Marx. Napoleon served as model for Bismarck and this strongman concept eventually inflicted Hitler, Mussolini & Stalin on the world. Lane could not have known that it would spread to much of Africa, the Islamic World & large parts of Asia, leaving mass murder & misery in its wake.

In discussing Germany, she observes that the USA borrowed its idea of compulsory state education. She laments the fact that free and private education in America was abandoned. This is where she was perhaps unintentionally prophetic. The German model resulted in the sorry state of US education today, in both its failure to educate and the fact that academia - the humanities in particular - has become a lair of collectivist utopian thinking with a disastrous effect on society. Today its toxic infusions into the culture include irrational & evil philosophies like postmodernism & multiculturalism. Hatched in the universities, they are spread by the mass media.

Lane's optimistic vision of the future is of a living network linking all human beings in a dynamic interplay of free creative energies. In 2009 the prospects may not look rosy, but the her explanation remains convincing. Freedom being the human being's natural state, once the concept has spread around the globe it can never be eradicated. The enemies of liberty fight back with The deception but the only way they can win is by obliterating knowledge. The forces of sinisterism have caused much bloodshed in their struggle against freedom and will do so again. Ultimately, however, freedom will triumph around the globe. Human energy is variable & creative and the spark of individual liberty can never be extinguished.

This is not only the clearest, most concise book of the worth, and means of achieving, individual freedom, but it reads like a well written novel. Insights from her travels; whether having dinner with the King of Albania, or visiting the centuries old cave dwellings in the same country or dealing with the mindless red tape in Paris, Ms Lane sifts through the socialist failures past and present in a thorough, yet entertaining fashion. Anyone with even a passing interest in the philosophy of freedom will benefit from this book. And libertarian book addicts will also learn something from the Timeliness of this 50 year old book, re-published this year.

"Here lies a planet, whirling in sunlit space..." From the opening words throughout the book to the concluding "...set the whole world free" Lane grabs you by the cerebellum and doesn't let go.

(By the way, this book is not by Hanz Sennholz, it's by Rose Wilder Lane, daughter of Laura Engalls Wilder.)

She admitted later that she'd introduced technical errors having written it "at white heat", yet the principles are as sound and unimpeachable as ever you'll read. If you've ever wondered about the nature of liberty and the history of freedom--from Jesus through Mohammed to America--read this book!

History does not lie (unless liberals re-write it), and Lane uses it most effectivly to illuminate the folly and fraud of the perceived need for government interference in the affairs of economics and the lives of citizens. The book opens with an eloquent statement of the human condition that is a rudimentary prerequisite to any discussion of political philosophy, but commonly ignored. Lane then proceedes to expose one governmental failure after another, in chronological order, plagued by monarchy, collectivism, religion and the peoples own ingrained belief that they must be governed. This book will make you thirsty for more history!

No wonder the publishers in 1943 did not push this book! It is filled with truth about Freedom and very educational. Not at all what anyone who likes to control people would want you to know about. What is Freedom, what are people operating with instead. What a great book. I am sorry no one ever had me read this book years ago. Such an uplifting style of writing. In this day and age, our Liberty and Freedom is slowly being taken away because we don't know what freedom is. This book explains it simply and with great examples. Thanks Rose Wilder Lane...

I've been recommending this book for years. I keep several extras on my shelf to give away.

And, by the way...I'm a professional author, and I'm 'frugal'.

Enough said.

This amazingly little book will add new knowledge to your previous understanding of our history as well as some interesting perspectives into our world and nation in the 21t century. As you read you will probably have to keep pinching yourself and remembering that the words of Rose Wilder Lane were written about a period long since past but are quite applicable to our experiences today. This is one of my favorite books on freedom along side the 5000 Year Leap and numerous books about our founding fathers.

Forget high school government and econ classes. Forget American history and psychology. All you need to do is read this short, exquisite work.

Ms. Lane crafted an excellent premise that cannot be over-emphasized or repeated too often: Man succeeds when free. Using history, economics, philosophy, religion, psychology, and sociology, Ms. Lane coherently explains recorded human history and gives it a logical framework for understanding. The stories read like a novel, rather than a textbook. Her prose is succinct, precise and very effective. Her first chapter should be memorized and recited in grade schools throughout this land.

Buy a copy for your favorite student as a graduation present. Give one to your congressman, store clerk, or a total stranger on the bus. Leave it at the Starbuck's or the State License Bureau. This is the finest piece of non-fiction I have ever read. Do yourself a favor and read it at least once a year.

I stumbled across this book in an Amazon review and I am so glad I did. More than any other book I have read, this one tells the story of the United States of America in the context of the story of human freedom throughout the ages, and makes one appreciate how rare and unique this gift we have inherited (and often take for granted). Rose Wilder Lane is uncompromising, but also inspiring. God is part of the equation of freedom, and freedom is part of the natural order that allows human energy its full expression. Authority, in the form of governmental control, is what stifles human energy and has unceasingly stymied human progress. While written during World War II, I think her observations are just as accurate, and her warnings now more than ever need to be heard. Her recounting of history is unconventional, but seems accurate to me (I've read enough history to be a fair judge). Everyone, especially every American, should read this book to understand the unique and special legacy we've inherited and should strive to preserve. If you can't get a hold of a copy, it is also available via the author's biography on Wikipedia.

What a great book. The history of freedom around the world explained simply. The book explains why freedom works. This book is very entertaining.

If you agree with the views in the book, give it away to your elected officals. It is obvious they don't know or agree with it.

You can let them know about the book. Whether they agree with it is up to them.