First published in 1996

Bertrand Russell wrote after the dawning of the Russian Revolution, at the time when Europe seemed on the verge of political dissolution. In this powerful work of political and social analysis, Russell examines the main roads to freedom that we have constructed for ourselves since the nineteenth century.

He discusses the great Utopian and egalitarian movements, ranging from the most moderate and democratic guise of Socialism to the most fanatical embodiment of Anarchism.