Power Tends To Corrupt: Lord Acton's Study of Liberty - Hardcover

..".[I]t should be noted that the book demonstrates an impressive synthesis of a great variety of material from the Acton archives and thus represents a serious academic achievement within the field of Acton studies." --Kenneth B. McIntyre, The Journal of Modern History "Christopher Lazarski of Warsaw University has put together a superb book on Lord Actons history of liberty.... We are treated to a deep look into the conditions of liberty within Western civilization and its polities as these have thrived or decomposed under authoritarian weight." --The University Bookman "Lazarski has given us a very helpful discussion of Acton's ideas contextualized within a broader current of religious, political and philosophical reflection. Especially illuminating is the exploration of Acton's ideas vis-a-vis those of Tocqueville, Burke, and Dollinger. To this extent, Lazarski advances our understanding of Catholic and liberal political thought in the 19th century." --Samuel Gregg, Director of Research at the Acton Institute and author, most recently, of Wilhelm Ropke's Political Economy "What is particularly unique about this book is Lazarski's very detailed analysis of Acton's historical thinking. Although Acton was an historian, who worked on the Cambridge historical studies, no other work to my knowledge examines as thoroughly as this one Acton's view of the past in terms of the goal that he saw as operative in human events." --Paul Gottfried, Professor of Humanities, Raffensperger Chair of the Political Science Department at Elizabethtown College, and author, most recently, of Leo Strauss and the Conservative Movement in America "Especially illuminating is the exploration of Acton's ideas vis-a-vis those of Tocqueville, Burke, and Dollinger." --Samuel Gregg, Acton Institute Lazarski has given us a very helpful discussion of Acton s ideas contextualized within a broader current of religious, political and philosophical reflection. Especially illuminating is the exploration of Acton s ideas vis-a-vis those of Tocqueville, Burke, and Dollinger. To this extent, Lazarski advances our understanding of Catholic and liberal political thought in the 19th century. Samuel Gregg, Director of Research at the Acton Institute and author, most recently, of "Wilhelm Ropke's Political Economy" What is particularly unique about this book is Lazarski s very detailed analysis of Acton s historical thinking. Although Acton was an historian, who worked on the Cambridge historical studies, no other work to my knowledge examines as thoroughly as this one Acton s view of the past in terms of the goal that he saw as operative in human events. Paul Gottfried, Professor of Humanities, Raffensperger Chair of the Political Science Department at Elizabethtown College, and author, most recently, of "Leo Strauss and the Conservative Movement in America""Especially illuminating is the exploration of Acton's ideas vis-a-vis those of Tocqueville, Burke, and Dollinger." Samuel Gregg, Acton Institute" "Christopher Lazarski of Warsaw University has put together a superb book on Lord Actons history of liberty....We are treated to a deep look into the conditions of liberty within Western civilization and its polities as these have thrived or decomposed under authoritarian weight." --The University Bookman

Lord Acton (1834-1902) is often called a historian of liberty. A great historian and political thinker, he had a rare talent for reaching beneath the surface and revealing the hidden springs that move the world. While endeavoring to understand the components of a truly free society, Acton attempted to see how the principles of self-determination and freedom worked in practice, from antiquity to his own time. But though he penned hundreds of papers, essays, reviews, letters, and ephemera, the ultimate book of his findings and views on the history of liberty remained unwritten. Reading a book a day for years, he still could not keep pace with the output of his time, and finally, dejected, he gave up. Today, Acton is mainly known for a single maxim, "Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely." In "Power Tends to Corrupt", Christopher Lazarski presents the first indepth consideration of Acton's thought in more than fifty years. Lazarski brings Acton's work to light in accessible language, with a focus on his understanding of liberty and its development in Western history. A work akin to Acton's overall account of the history of liberty, with a secondary look at his political theory, this book is an outstanding exegesis of the theories and findings of one of the nineteenth century's keenest minds.