Name: Inventing Human Rights
ISBN: 9780393331998

At a Glance

Why This Clicks

Rights, Made Plain

A compact history that links rights-talk to social change without losing the human scale.

Come here for

human rights as cultural history
clear social theory with historical sweep

Expect

modern history, not just legal history
an explanatory, steady narrative

Book Details

Authors: Lynn Hunt
Publisher: WW Norton
Published: March 25, 2008
Format: Print & ebook
Theme: Human Rights · Modern History
Reading lane: Human Rights

Affinity

Publisher Categories

Human Rights

About This Book

“A tour de force.”—Gordon S. Wood, New York Times Book Review How were human rights invented, and how does their tumultuous history influence their perception and our ability to protect them today? From Professor Lynn Hunt comes this extraordinary cultural and intellectual history, which traces the roots of human rights to the rejection of torture as a means for finding the truth. She demonstrates how ideas of human relationships portrayed in novels and art helped spread the...

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“A tour de force.”—Gordon S. Wood, New York Times Book Review How were human rights invented, and how does their tumultuous history influence their perception and our ability to protect them today? From Professor Lynn Hunt comes this extraordinary cultural and intellectual history, which traces the roots of human rights to the rejection of torture as a means for finding the truth. She demonstrates how ideas of human relationships portrayed in novels and art helped spread these new ideals and how human rights continue to be contested today.