Thomas Paine is most famous for writing Common Sense, a pamphlet distributed during the American Revolution advocating for colonial America’s independence from Great Britain. Now, collected here in a beautiful gift book volume are excerpts from this important historical American document, as well as several of his other writings. Paine believed in more than just freedom in the form of revolution and overthrowing governments. He also believed in...

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...

It's December 23, 1971 and heavy weather is forecast for Chicago. Russ Hildebrandt, the associate pastor of a liberal suburban church, is on the brink of breaking free of a marriage he finds joyless - unless his wife, Marion, who has her own secret life beats him to it. Their eldest child, Clem, is coming home from college on fire with moral absolutism, having taken an action that will shatter his father. Clem's sister, Becky, long the social queen...

"Get ready to blast back to the past and learn all about the Statue of Liberty! When people think about the Statue of Liberty, that iconic statue will surely come to mind. But why do we have that statue, and who is that woman anyway? This engaging nonfiction book, complete with black-and-white interior illustrations, will make readers feel like they've traveled back in time. It covers everything from how the statue was built to the history behind...

"Mill's four essays, 'On Liberty', 'Utilitarianism', 'Considerations on Representative Government', and 'The Subjection of Women' examine the most central issues that face liberal democratic regimes - whether in the nineteenth century or the twenty-first. They have formed the basis for many of the political institutions of the West since the late nineteenth century, tackling as they do the appropriate grounds for protecting individual liberty, the...

A profound rumination on the concept of freedom from the New York Times bestselling author of Tribe.
Throughout history, humans have been driven by the quest for two cherished ideals: community and freedom. The two don't coexist easily. We value individuality and self-reliance, yet are utterly dependent on community for our most basic needs. In this intricately crafted and thought-provoking book, Sebastian Junger examines the...

Explore the many dimensions of awakened consciousness under the guidance of respected spiritual teacher Adyashanti What does "awakening" mean to you? Perhaps it's about disconnecting from day-to-day concerns and living apart from the stresses of the world. Maybe you think awakening is about achieving an expanded, intuitive awareness of unseen realities. Or maybe it involves transcending suffering and never experiencing anything painful ever again. ...

"The 1619 Project illuminated the ways in which every aspect of life in the United States was and is shaped by the existence of slavery. Black Ghost of Empire focuses on emancipation and how this opportunity to make right further codified the racial caste system-instead of obliterating it.To understand why the shadow of slavery still haunts society today, we must not only look at what slavery was, but also the unfinished way it ended. One may think...