How is it that “liberalism” is a word so ubiquitous and yet we can hardly seem to agree on its meaning? In her book The Lost History of Liberalism: From Ancient Rome to the Twenty-First Century (Princeton University Press, 2018), Helena Rosenblatt traces the history of the words “liberal” and “liberalism” in order to understand how liberals defined themselves, and what they meant when they spoke about liberalism. In recovering liberalism’s roots in the French Revolution, as well as highlighting the centrality of the German thinkers who transformed it, Rosenblatt debunks the myth of liberalism as an Anglo-American tradition centered on individual rights.Emily K. Crandall is a PhD candidate in Political Science at the Graduate Center, CUNY. She is a fellow at the Center for Global Ethics and Politics in the Ralph Bunche Institute for International Studies.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices