The Constitution of Liberty
By F.A. Hayek
ISBN 10: 0-226-32084-7

The Constitution of Liberty represents Hayek's ambitious task of approaching economic problems "through a comprehensive restatement of the basic principles of freedom." (p.3)  As such, this valuable work on freedom brings the reader to appreciate the premises of both the pro-freedom philosophies since the Enlightenment and the anti-freedom prejudices that have impeded the growth of free societies in the West.  A full view of the history of freedom and its struggle with anti-freedom is clearly presented to the reader.

Hayek credits the conception of Constitution to the recognition that the intellectual trends hostile to freedom, though identified by different names in different places, are one in the same the world over.  The anti-freedom policies of today are merely the resurrected policies of the past, repackaged with new titles and new promises but leading to the same economic consequences of the past.

Constitution is divided into three parts: The Value of Freedom, Freedom and The Law, and Freedom in The Welfare State.  Each part is subdivided into several chapters.  The first part "endeavors to show why we want liberty and what it does."  (That's a fine goal for our purposes here at Freedom Lessons! )  Parts two and three walk the reader through the effects of pro and anti freedom forces on our laws and, subsequently, the policies that effect our lives.  

Hayek writes with clarity and persistent persuasion and, though flowing in theme from part to part and chapter to chapter, Constitution can be profitably consumed piecemeal.