The Liberty Paradox

Living with the Responsibilities of Freedom

By: David Kinley

Narrated by: Peter Lerman

How do we balance freedom with the responsibilities we owe each other as members of society?

Are we free to do whatever we want? This idea challenges us throughout our daily lives, from how to tackle pandemic restrictions and vaccine mandates to how to respond to technological innovations and climate change warnings. In The Liberty Paradox, David Kinley argues that we must rehabilitate the notion of liberty by rescuing it from the myopic demands of freedom without limit and reinstating the essential ingredient of social responsibility.

Combining political, philosophical, and personal reflections as a global human rights lawyer, Kinley examines the implications of this liberty reset for how we negotiate freedom's boundaries in the realms of wealth, work, health, happiness, security, voice, love, and death.

With chapters dedicated to each of these life-defining domains and written in a style both engaging and insightful, The Liberty Paradox explores how we try—and often fail—to balance personal desires and public interests. Kinley concludes that preserving liberty and protecting it from radical individualism requires new ways of respecting each other and rebuilding trust in the institutions and people that govern us.

The book is published by Johns Hopkins University Press. The audiobook is published by University Press Audiobooks.

©2024 David Kinley (P)2025 Redwood Audiobooks

Critic reviews

"A thorough meditation on the complexities of negotiating our desires with those of other people." (New York Times Book Review)

"This book is prescient and observant." (Patricia Viseur Sellers, Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court; London School of Economics)

"A superb and subtle interrogation..." (Larry Catá Backer, Pennsylvania State University)