Il volume raccoglie i tre testi che hanno inventato il nostro concetto di libertà moderno e liberale. Il frammento, inedito in italiano, con cui Madame de Staèl oppone per la prima volta libertà antica e libertà moderna. Il capitolo in cui Simonde de Sismondi osserva che il segreto è combinare libertà antica, politica e libertà moderna, individuale. Infine il famoso discorso di Benjamin Constant, che trae importanti conseguenze dai due autori precedenti. Si tratta non soltanto di un'archeologia della nostra liberal-democrazia, oggi assediata da più parti da sempre nuovi e insinuanti poteri, ma anche della storia di alcuni personaggi eccezionali, autentici antenati delle lotte di liberazione odierne, che all'indomani del Terrore, resistendo all'Impero, reagendo alla Restaurazione, si sono inventati il liberalismo senza stare troppo a pensarci, perché era semplicemente la prosecuzione delle loro vite.

'In the face of the most perilous challenges of our time--climate change, terrorism, poverty, and trafficking of drugs, guns, and people--the nations of the world seem paralyzed. The problems are too big for governments to deal with. Benjamin Barber contends that cities, and the mayors who run them, can do and are doing a better job than nations. He cites the unique qualities cities worldwide share: pragmatism, civic trust, participation, indifference to borders and sovereignty, and a democratic penchantfor networking, creativity, innovation, and cooperation. He demonstrates how city mayors, singly and jointly, are responding to transnational problems more effectively than nation-states mired in ideological infighting and sovereign rivalries. The book features profiles of a dozen mayors around the world, making a persuasive case that the city is democracy's best hope in a globalizing world, and that great mayors are already proving that this is so'--

A powerful sequel to Benjamin R. Barber's best-selling Jihad vs. McWorld, Consumed offers a vivid portrait of an overproducing global economy that targets children as consumers in a market where there are never enough shoppers and where the primary goal is no longer to manufacture goods but needs. To explain how and why this has come about, Barber brings together extensive empirical research with an original theoretical framework for understanding our contemporary predicament. He asserts that in place of the Protestant ethic once associated with capitalism-encouraging self-restraint, preparing for the future, protecting and self-sacrificing for children and community, and other characteristics of adulthood-we are constantly being seduced into an 'infantilist' ethic of consumption.

Jihad vs. McWorld is a groundbreaking work, an elegant and illuminating analysis of the central conflict of our times: consumerist capitalism versus religious and tribal fundamentalism. These diametrically opposed but strangely intertwined forces are tearing apart--and bringing together--the world as we know it, undermining democracy and the nation-state on which it depends.

On the one hand, consumer capitalism on the global level is rapidly dissolving the social and economic barriers between nations, transforming the world's diverse populations into a blandly uniform market. On the other hand, ethnic, religious, and racial hatreds are fragmenting the political landscape into smaller and smaller tribal units. Jihad vs. McWorld is the term that distinguished writer and political scientist Benjamin R. Barber has coined to describe the powerful and paradoxical interdependence of these forces. In this important new book, he explores the alarming repercussions of this potent dialectic for democracy.

A work of persuasive originality and penetrating insight, Jihad vs. McWorld holds up a sharp, clear lens to the dangerous chaos of the post-Cold War world. Critics and political leaders have already heralded Benjamin R. Barber's work for its bold vision and moral courage. Jihad vs. McWorld is an essential text for anyone who wants to understand our troubled present and the crisis threatening our future.