The highly original rethinking of how our moral beliefs were formed and theirimpact on western society.-"He has explained us to ourselves . . . A magisterial, timeless, yet timely work"Douglas Murray, The SpectatorThis ambitious and stimulating book asks us to rethink the evolution of the ideas onwhich modern states are built. Larry Siedentop argues that the core of what is now oursystem of beliefs - liberalism founded on the individual - emerged much earlier thangenerally recognised, established not in the Renaissance but by the arguments oflawyers and philosophers between the twelfth and fourteenth centuries.There are large parts of the world - fundamentalist Islam; quasi-capitalist China -where other belief systems flourish. Faced with these challenges, understanding theorigins of our own liberal ideas is more than ever an important part of knowing whowe are.