E-book: On the Spirit of Rights

"A superb, erudite piece of intellectual excavation. . . . Edelsteins skill as an intellectual historian lies especially in his ability to situate ideas in their broadest cultural and political setting." * New York Review of Books * "Provocative and timely." * Times Higher Education * "Edelstein explores how natural rights translated into human rights in his sweeping survey, which canvasses the archaeology of human rights from the Wars of Religion through the Age of Revolution to 1948. [ He] provides a helpful new framework for understanding the evolution of human rights in Western society. Highly recommended." * CHOICE * Rarely has an existing debate been as authoritatively and breathtakingly taken to a new plane as in Edelsteins sophisticated new story of how rights entered European and transatlantic politics in the age of revolution. Clear, erudite, and urbane, Edelstein has shown once again why he is so highly regarded a historian of the eighteenth centurys place in Western intellectual history. * Samuel Moyn, Yale University * The Spirit of Rights is an erudite, wide-ranging, and powerful reevaluation of the history of human rights in the West. Rather than viewing either (or both) the U.S. Declaration of Independence or the French Declaration of the Rights of Man as constituting a foundational moment of political modernity, Edelstein sees them as marking a moment in a lively and contentious conversation over rights that can be traced back to the sixteenth century and then through to our own day. The consequent expansion of the historical canvas on which rights have been inscribed explodes conventional teleologies. Written with verve and conviction, The Spirit of Rights is a tour de force: compelling, brilliant, and excitingly thought-provoking. * Colin Jones, Queen Mary University of London * "The author shows tremendous erudition both in relation to the sources and to the relevant literature. The argumentation is impressively clear and the presentation is extremely legible." * Historische Zeitschrift (translated from German) *