|
The History of Freedom
John Emerich Edward Dalberg Acton
1st Baron Acton of Aldenham
Lord Acton is popularly remembered for his pungent aphoirsms –"Power tends
to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely" – but of far deeper
significance was his life-long study of the history of freedom. It was a work
never completed, for reasons Professor Holland discusses in his introduction.
But Acton's brilliant insights, the fruit of his vast erudition, were forthcoming
on rare occasion, and never more powerfully than in the two lectures published
here. These writings are a precious heritage for the promise of civilization
in our time and forevermore.
|
