Toward the Light of Liberty: The Struggles for Freedom and Rights That Made the Modern Western World [Hardcover]

A. C. Grayling (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0802716369 | ISBN-13: 978-0802716361 | Publication Date: October 2, 2007 | Edition: 1st

The epic story of the interlocking struggles to achieve the individual rights and freedoms that characterize Western civilization, by one of the world's leading public intellectuals.
 
Perhaps the hallmark of western civilization over the past five hundred years, writes A. C. Grayling, is the series of liberation struggles without which the ordinary citizen in Western countries would not enjoy the rights and freedoms we now take for granted. They began with the often violent battle to allow independent thought, uncontrolled by the Church, which led in time to political freedom as monarchies were gradually replaced by more representative forms of government. These in turn made possible the abolition of slavery, rights for working men and women, universal education, the enfranchisement of women, and much more.

 

Each of these struggles was a memorable human drama, and Grayling skillfully interweaves the stories of celebrated and little-known heroes alike--from Martin Luther and John Locke to the sixteenth-century French scholar Sebastien Castellio and the nineteenth-century feminist Elizabeth Cady Stanton. The triumphs and sacrifices of those who dared to oppose authority ring loudly down the ages, proving how hard-won each successive victory has been. And yet, as Grayling persuasively shows in a cautionary coda, democratic governments under pressure have often thought it necessary to restrict rights in the name of freedom, further underlining how precious they are. Toward the Light of Liberty is, thus, particularly relevant as we head toward an election season in which our own civil liberties will surely be an issue.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Do we take our liberties for granted at the risk of losing them in the war on terror? Grayling (Descartes: The Life and Times of a Genius), a professor of philosophy at Birkbeck College, University of London, and a leading British public intellectual, believes so. This book is, in some respects, an old-fashioned, triumphalist history of the rise of Western liberty since the 16th century (with Martin Luther, John Locke and Elizabeth Cady Stanton playing leading role), but nevertheless serves as a stirring call to arms to defend freedom from its enemies within and without. Grayling argues that the struggle for liberty has been one of sacrifice and hardship on the part of many heroic individuals. Despite the blood and the violence, it has been worth it: Today's ordinary Western citizen is, in sixteenth-century terms, a lord: a possessor of rights, entitlements, opportunities and resources that only an aristocrat of that earlier period could hope for. But, Grayling somberly writes, the process of losing our inheritance of liberty might have already begun. Grayling provides a refreshing tonic to any inclination toward apathy or cynicism, and his book will only gain in relevance as the 2008 presidential election looms. Color photos. (Oct.)
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From Booklist

Our current president has proclaimed that individual liberty is a universal, even biological human aspiration. But a free society, in which individuals accept, even defend, the liberties of others is a social construct that has taken Western nations centuries to achieve. Philosophy professor Grayling has written an excellent survey that tracks the development of free, democratic societies and institutions over the past five centuries. He begins with the Protestant Reformation. Although Luther was hardly a tolerant man regarding religious issues, he did insist on persuasion rather than persecution. Eventually, the diversity fostered by the splintering of Christianity made acceptance of the primacy of the individual conscience a necessity. Grayling proceeds to examine the role of Enlightenment figures, early feminists, and the Chartist movement in securing both individual liberty and the expansion of the franchise. Importantly, he reminds us that the liberty we too often take for granted is the result of a long, often painful process. Freeman, Jay

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 288 pages
• Publisher: Walker & Company; 1st edition (October 2, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0802716369
• ISBN-13: 978-0802716361
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.2 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #804,033 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

27 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars From Torquemada to the War on Terror, October 23, 2007

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Santi Tafarella (california) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Toward the Light of Liberty: The Struggles for Freedom and Rights That Made the Modern Western World (Hardcover)

A.C. Grayling is a British philosopher. He is a friend of Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens, and although he is not as well known as these two authors, his book is every bit as valuable as the writing of his secular compatriots. Prof. Grayling does an excellent job explaining how the West moved from the Spanish Inquisition (in the 1500s) into the relative daylight of liberty enjoyed in contemporary democracies. One of the highlights of Prof. Grayling's book is his clear explication of the importance of John Locke in the story of liberty. Wheras Hobbes' argued that human life in a state of nature is "nasty, brutish, and short," Locke argued that what is most important about individual human nature is not its violence, but its unique capacity (among animals) for reason and freedom. This shifted the debate concerning the role of the state from the Hobbesian one (the state is a "Leviathan" that a people surrenders its rights to in the name of collective safety and protection) to a Lockean one (in which the state is at the service of protecting the ability of individuals to reason and exercise freedom). The book lays out clearly what is at stake for the West if we collectively succumb to the temptation (in the name of security) of conceiving of our world as a Hobbesian one (as opposed to a Lockean one). According to Grayling, we have to be very careful (in the West) not to erode our hard won liberties in the name of "the war on terror," or mute our freedom of speech in the name of multicultural and religious sensitivity. Grayling is a liberal in temperament, not a conservative, and he deals with these issues in a moderate and nuanced fashion, while nevertheless emphasizing the frailty of our liberties, and reminding us of how difficult they have been to attain, and how easy they might be lost in a time of economic or war-time crisis. Mr. Grayling is not as polemical as Dawkins or Hitchens, but he is every bit as intelligent and interesting to read.

15 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Strong, flawed, important work with a valuable, urgent message (a history teacher's review), January 30, 2008

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DWD "DWD's Reviews" (Indianapolis, IN) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Toward the Light of Liberty: The Struggles for Freedom and Rights That Made the Modern Western World (Hardcover)

I had to pick up this book as soon as I stumbled upon it. One of the themes in my history classes is the expansion of freedom in the West following the same general timeline that Grayling follows. Who doesn't like to have his own thoughts echoed by a major English philosopher?

Strengths:

I do recommend this book - it is a readable, admirable attempt at covering a vast, important topic. Grayling covers John Locke especially well (although he disposes with the views of Hobbes rather quickly by asserting that people are not necessarily nasty and brutal with one another).

Grayling's most important message is quite simple: the rights that we have are the product of a lot of time and a lot of struggles and they should be cherished and well-guarded. When the reader has completed this book it should be quite clear that this inheritance is too valuable to be squandered.

To his credit, Grayling does not treat Marx and Engels as if they were true prophets. Rather, he successfully counters their arguments and, unlike many academics, expresses no sympathy with their devotees in the USSR - tyranny is tyranny, no matter its political leanings with Mr. Grayling.

Weaknesses:

Grayling has intended this book to be an answer to 19th century English historian Lord Acton's incomplete "History of Liberty" - a work that is friendly to the role of religion in Liberty and Freedom in the West. Grayling is most definitely not agreeable to that point. It is too bad that this bias runs throughout the book. This work is strong in so many ways, but this attitude is over-emphasized

Grayling begins with Martin Luther and the Reformation. The longest argument that Grayling makes is against the uniform power of the Catholic church during those dangerous times, especially the Inquisition. Grayling overplays his hand by painting all religions with the taint of the Inquisition over and over throughout the book. At one point (p. 234) he even argues that religious people are not good citizens because their loyalties are divided between the "secular state" and their religion. Too my mind, his argument comes dangerously close to swinging to becoming zealous opposite of the Inquisition - an anti-religious inquisition, if you will.

The book gets bogged down for about 20 pages in a detailed look at the labor movement in England in the 1800s. I am not quite sure why he focused this intently on reciting this story because it stands in stark contrast to the philosophical and idea-centered writing that fills the rest of the book. My advice - skim and move on to the meatier portions that follow.

Grayling includes photos in the center of the book. Oddly they include photos of Martin Luther King, anti-segregation protestors in both America and South Africa and Algerians being hassled by French troops in the 1950s - these topics are not actually addressed in the book.

A pet peeve - Grayling has lots of endnotes - many of them with comments. Why not make them footnotes so the reader does not have to flip to the back so often?

7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Fascinating Read, December 12, 2007

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D. Mitchell - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Toward the Light of Liberty: The Struggles for Freedom and Rights That Made the Modern Western World (Hardcover)

I'm something of a Goldwater conservative, so I don't entirely agree with all of Grayling's leftism, but I do agree with his stance on the separation of church and state and the importance of The Enlightment. Read and enjoy and apply his concepts of free thinking even as you consider the author's own opinions.