The Making of Modern Liberalism

Published Jan. 21, 2016

(Princeton University Press) This collection of essays spans decades, but is unified by the main themes of the liberal political tradition: freedom, individual rights, toleration, and the connections between work, property, and freedom among them. It sets present day attachments against the attachments of the sharpest thinkers of earlier ages, such as Hobbes, Locke, and Mill. Alan Ryan has taught political theory at Oxford and Princeton since 1969, and written multiple books on the history of political thought.

Paw in print

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An inside look up the inside of a building, with four floors and a dinosaur skeleton visible.
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April 2026

Inside the new ES and SEAS complex; kudos for austerity; jazz at Princeton.