In this wide-ranging volume, Tibor Machan presents the reader with well-argued and well-documented philosophical considerations, arguing the case that liberty as a political ideal is both desirable and feasible. From foundational issues such as the nature of objectivity to specifics such as smoking bans and health care reform, Machan argues with both passion and rigor, in clear prose that will be of value to philosophers and lay readers alike.

Aeon J. Skoble, Bridgewater State College

Machan's The Promise of Liberty continues his tenacious and sharp witted exploration of the basics as well as implications of a bona fide free society, as well as of several of the issues that critics claim are certainly the undoing of such a political economy. The topics are all fascinating-among them: smoking and liberty, fetal rights, ethics and science, negative externalities, do we have the right to be wrong, is stakeholder business management just, does the famous Lockean Proviso pose the problems for private property rights as those who deploy it claim, and numerous others that are routinely rolled out as if they easily destroyed the case for liberty. As Machan shows, they do not. This is perhaps Machan's most thoroughly integrated philosophical defense of the great promise of liberty for human community affairs.

Nicholas Capaldi, Director, National Center for Business Ethics