Issues of Our Time

Charles Fried

Modern Liberty

And the Limits of Government

An impassioned defense of liberty from one of our most esteemed legal scholars.

How has the modern welfare state redefined our notion of individual liberty? Are we free to express ourselves in speech, at work, or through sex? Arguing that equality is often the most potent rival of liberty, Charles Fried demonstrates how the dense tangle of government regulations both supports and threatens our personal freedoms. Richly illustrated with examples from contemporary life, Modern Liberty is vividly relevant to the experiences and needs of everyday Americans. This is Hayek’s The Road to Serfdom updated for a time when we have put fascist and Marxist tyranny firmly behind us but still confront kinder, gentler threats to our liberty. Armed with Fried’s insights, readers will be better able to defend themselves against those on both the left and the right who would limit their liberty to promote virtue, equality, or the greatness of the nation. Modern Liberty has profound implications for the societies in which we live now.


Charles Fried teaches constitutional law at the Harvard Law School. He has served as Ronald Reagan’s solicitor general and as a justice of the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts. He lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Modern Liberty


November 2006 / hardcover / ISBN 10: 0-393-06000-4 ISBN 13: 978-0-393-06000-3 / 288 pages / CURRENT AFFAIRS
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