History as the Story of Liberty

By Benedetto Croce

1938

First Published

3.21

Average Rating

324

Number of Pages

9H53M

Audio Length

Benedetto Croce (1866–1952), who is perhaps best known as the author in 1902 of Aesthetics, wrote History as the Story of Liberty in 1938, when the Western world had succumbed to the notion that history is a creature of blind force. A reviewer at the time noted the importance of Croce’s belief that “the central trend in the evolution of man is the unfolding of new potentialities, and that the task of the historian is to discover and emphasize this the story of liberty.” As Croce himself writes, “Even in the darkest and crassest times liberty trembles in the lines of poets and affirms itself in the pages of thinkers and burns, solitary and magnificent, in some men who cannot be assimilated by the world around them.” The first edition in English of History as the Story of Liberty appeared in London in 1941. The new Liberty Fund edition includes modest improvements to the translation by Folke Leander and arranged by Claes Ryn. Claes G. Ryn is Professor of Politics at the Catholic University of America.

Avg Rating

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Author

Benedetto Croce

Author · 8 books

Italian philosopher and politician. He wrote numerous topics including philosophy of history and aesthetics. Raised in a very strict Catholic family. Around the age of 18, he turned away from Catholicism and became an atheist, remaining so for the rest of his life. After an earthquake in 1883, his parents and only sister were all killed, while he was buried for a very long time and barely survived. After the incident he inherited his family's fortune and was able to live the rest of his life in relative leisure, enabling him to devote a great deal of time to philosophy. He was the Minister of Education. He was an open critic of Italy's participation in World War I. He openly opposed the Fascict Party till his death in 1952. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benedett...