'A tour de force.' - THE SECRET BARRISTER

'Clear-eyed and hard-headed. His defence of liberalism is political writing at its most urgent and engaging .' - NICK COHEN, OBSERVER COLUMNIST

'Dunt's gift for making complicated issues comprehensible is second to none. Courageous.' - JAMES O'BRIEN, LBC

The authoritarian right is taking control. From Viktor Orban in Hungary, to Brexit in Britain, to Donald Trump in America, nationalists are launching an all-out assault on liberal values. In this groundbreaking new book, political journalist Ian Dunt tells the story of liberalism, from its birth in the fight against absolute monarchy to the modern-day resistance against the new populism. In a soaring narrative that stretches from the battlefields of the English Civil War to the 2008 financial crash and beyond, this vivid, page-turning book explains the political ideas which underpin the modern world. But it is also something much more than that - it is a rallying cry for those who still believe in freedom and reason.
'A tour de force.' - THE SECRET BARRISTER'Clear-eyed and hard-headed. His defence of liberalism is political writing at its most urgent and engaging.' - NICK COHEN, OBSERVER COLUMNIST'Dunt's gift for making complicated issues comprehensible is second to none. Courageous.' - JAMES O'BRIEN, LBC
Nationalism has marched across the world. Wherever it goes, it seeks to destroy the liberal values that underpin Western civilisation.In this epic new book, political journalist Ian Dunt tells the forgotten story of the advance of liberalism and the events which led to its current retreat. His sweeping narrative takes in the Levellers, the American and French Revolutions, John Stuart Mill, the great economic clashes between John Maynard Keynes and Friedrich Hayek, and the works of George Orwell. He then traces how the financial crash, identity politics and post-truth have wreaked havoc on liberal values in some of the world's biggest countries.Weaving together history, philosophy and polemic, How To Be A Liberal stretches from the dawn of the age of science to the latest developments in politics and everyday life. This wide-ranging and powerful account will answer all the questions you have about what's happening to our society and how we create a better world.
'A tour de force.' - THE SECRET BARRISTER'Clear-eyed and hard-headed. His defence of liberalism is political writing at its most urgent and engaging.' - NICK COHEN, OBSERVE