{"product_id":"equality-of-permission-deirdre-nansen-mccloskey-9780226852393","title":"Equality of Permission: The Politics of Feasible Liberalism","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eFrom a revered public intellectual, an essential argument for the political preconditions of a liberal society. \u003c\/b\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eLiberalism has always suffered from messaging challenges. It simultaneously implies a pursuit of individual liberty \u003ci\u003eand \u003c\/i\u003esocial equality, two projects often regarded as at odds. Or: \u003ci\u003eLiberal \u003c\/i\u003emeans the opposite of \u003ci\u003econservative\u003c\/i\u003e. Except when it doesn't. The list goes on. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eLiberal bard Deirdre Nansen McCloskey understands these rhetorical troubles. \u003ci\u003eEquality of Permission\u003c\/i\u003e is her stirring and career-defining intervention on this essentially contested yet critical topic--a forceful case for liberalism as our best hope, and an essential vision of the political conditions necessary for its survival. McCloskey prescribes a liberalism built around liberty from the bottom up: \"equality before the law and equality of political and economic permissions,\" lightly administered.\u003cp\u003eThe state, McCloskey argues, is increasingly the source of our discontents--an illiberal institution, hindered by a quixotic fixation on pursuing equality of wealth or opportunity. \u003ci\u003eEquality of Permission \u003c\/i\u003eevangelizes for a better, and earlier, version of liberalism--that of John Locke, Adam Smith, Mary Wollstonecraft, and Henry David Thoreau--as against a top-down quest for an unattainable utopia. McCloskey shows that statism in pursuit of a chimerical general will, even when well-intentioned, leads to tyranny.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eBrimming with energy and erudition, drawing on wisdoms from Alexis de Tocqueville to Mae West, \u003ci\u003eEquality of Permission\u003c\/i\u003e is McCloskey at the peak of her powers--brilliant, lacerating, garrulous, funny, worldly, and warm. Amid intense debate over the use and abuse of government institutions, McCloskey shares her singular vision for a true democracy, one grounded in respect and conducive to universal human flourishing.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Deirdre Nansen McCloskey\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 0226852393\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780226852393\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e University of Chicago Press\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 11\/16\/2026\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 320\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Hardcover\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 1.00lbs","brand":"Deirdre Nansen McCloskey","offers":[{"title":"Hardcover","offer_id":48801740194047,"sku":"9780226852393","price":27.5,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/equality-of-permission-deirdre-nansen-mccloskey-9780226852393","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}