The Cambridge Companion to Liberalism

As Frank Lovett says in his critique of liberalism, it is a very protean idea. It conjures up both the good and the bad in society. The Latin adjective liber means free – a positive connotation if ever there was one – but as a fully-fledged “ism”, it dates from the early nineteenth century. In Britain and throughout Europe, many people worshipped at the altar of liberalism even though the idea meant many different things to them. I began by writing this review as an historical piece – Milton, Gladstone and J.S. Mill all figured in it. Also to be...