History & Criticism
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On Freedom: Four Songs of Care and Constraint
Named a Most Anticipated/Best Book of the Month by: NPR * USA Today * Time * Washington Post * Vulture * Women's Wear Daily * Bustle * LitHub * The Millions * Vogue * Nylon * Shondaland * Chicago Review of Books * The Guardian * Los Angeles Times * Kirkus * Publishers Weekly
So often deployed as a jingoistic, even menacing rallying cry, or limited by a focus on passing moments of liberation, the rhetoric of freedom both rouses and repels. Does it remain key to our autonomy, justice, and well-being, or is freedom's long star turn coming to a close? Does a continued obsession with the term enliven and emancipate, or reflect a deepening nihilism (or both)? On Freedom examines such questions by tracing the concept's complexities in four distinct realms: art, sex, drugs, and climate.
Drawing on a vast range of material, from critical theory to pop culture to the intimacies and plain exchanges of daily life, Maggie Nelson explores how we might think, experience, or talk about freedom in ways responsive to the conditions of our day. Her abiding interest lies in ongoing "practices of freedom" by which we negotiate our interrelation with―indeed, our inseparability from―others, with all the care and constraint that entails, while accepting difference and conflict as integral to our communion.
For Nelson, thinking publicly through the knots in our culture―from recent art-world debates to the turbulent legacies of sexual liberation, from the painful paradoxes of addiction to the lure of despair in the face of the climate crisis―is itself a practice of freedom, a means of forging fortitude, courage, and company. On Freedom is an invigorating, essential book for challenging times.
So often deployed as a jingoistic, even menacing rallying cry, or limited by a focus on passing moments of liberation, the rhetoric of freedom both rouses and repels. Does it remain key to our autonomy, justice, and well-being, or is freedom's long star turn coming to a close? Does a continued obsession with the term enliven and emancipate, or reflect a deepening nihilism (or both)? On Freedom examines such questions by tracing the concept's complexities in four distinct realms: art, sex, drugs, and climate.
Drawing on a vast range of material, from critical theory to pop culture to the intimacies and plain exchanges of daily life, Maggie Nelson explores how we might think, experience, or talk about freedom in ways responsive to the conditions of our day. Her abiding interest lies in ongoing "practices of freedom" by which we negotiate our interrelation with―indeed, our inseparability from―others, with all the care and constraint that entails, while accepting difference and conflict as integral to our communion.
For Nelson, thinking publicly through the knots in our culture―from recent art-world debates to the turbulent legacies of sexual liberation, from the painful paradoxes of addiction to the lure of despair in the face of the climate crisis―is itself a practice of freedom, a means of forging fortitude, courage, and company. On Freedom is an invigorating, essential book for challenging times.
Editorial Reviews
"On Freedom is ultimately a book that asks us to boldly and generously enter the minefield, to pick up what we find useful, to be pushed and provoked, to polish and discard and reinvent, and then to decide, alone and, ideally, in communion, where to go next."―The Washington Post
"[A] sense of optimism sits at the heart of On Freedom. What else is possible? it asks. . . . On Freedom is an argument for how we engage with objects of analysis―and one another―in a way that is principled but not rigid, that displays care for other people's perceptions, pains and desires, and that has respect for what we cannot know."―Ismail Muhammad, New York Times Magazine
"In discussion after discussion, Nelson shows the same alertness to context, intellectual modesty and the conviction that ethical goodness is never all on one side. . . ."[On Freedom] doesn't aim to provide a positive account of the meaning of freedom. But if we understand freedom, above all, through our opposition to bondage, we can learn a great deal, as her book shows, from carefully cataloging and challenging the many ways of being unfree." ―Kwame Anthony Appiah, The New York Times Book Review
"Precise and atmospheric, combining fierce intellectual kick with an openness to nuance....[Nelson asks] how to live in a world with crushing oppression, alongside people with cruel and violent beliefs, without giving into despair or violence yourself."―Annalisa Quinn, NPR
"A meditative and potent examination of freedom. . . . Combining thoughtful cultural criticism with anecdotes from her personal life, Nelson delivers an intriguing work of nonfiction that seeks to challenge readers' definition of freedom and rethink how the concept operates in our lives."―TIME
"One of our most radical and forward-looking thinkers. . . . A tremendously energising book."―Lara Fiegel, The Guardian
"Nelson finds playfulness―and fertility―in thorny territory. She explores identity, contradiction, violence, taboo. . . . All her books are united by the same curiosity, the same willingness for intellectual and linguistic exploration."―Financial Times Magazine
"While her intellect is the driving force of On Freedom, Nelson decenters herself to build a canon of radical thought w...
"[A] sense of optimism sits at the heart of On Freedom. What else is possible? it asks. . . . On Freedom is an argument for how we engage with objects of analysis―and one another―in a way that is principled but not rigid, that displays care for other people's perceptions, pains and desires, and that has respect for what we cannot know."―Ismail Muhammad, New York Times Magazine
"In discussion after discussion, Nelson shows the same alertness to context, intellectual modesty and the conviction that ethical goodness is never all on one side. . . ."[On Freedom] doesn't aim to provide a positive account of the meaning of freedom. But if we understand freedom, above all, through our opposition to bondage, we can learn a great deal, as her book shows, from carefully cataloging and challenging the many ways of being unfree." ―Kwame Anthony Appiah, The New York Times Book Review
"Precise and atmospheric, combining fierce intellectual kick with an openness to nuance....[Nelson asks] how to live in a world with crushing oppression, alongside people with cruel and violent beliefs, without giving into despair or violence yourself."―Annalisa Quinn, NPR
"A meditative and potent examination of freedom. . . . Combining thoughtful cultural criticism with anecdotes from her personal life, Nelson delivers an intriguing work of nonfiction that seeks to challenge readers' definition of freedom and rethink how the concept operates in our lives."―TIME
"One of our most radical and forward-looking thinkers. . . . A tremendously energising book."―Lara Fiegel, The Guardian
"Nelson finds playfulness―and fertility―in thorny territory. She explores identity, contradiction, violence, taboo. . . . All her books are united by the same curiosity, the same willingness for intellectual and linguistic exploration."―Financial Times Magazine
"While her intellect is the driving force of On Freedom, Nelson decenters herself to build a canon of radical thought w...
Readers Top Reviews
Jonathan MillerWinny
Really insightful and challenges how freedom is often used as justification for whatever action one may desire. Academic yet readable and not pushing an agenda. A great read for the times; excellent book club material...good conversation and debate sure to ensue!
Watercat
Bought the audio version so I could listen while I painted. Bought the hardcover shortly after so I could digest the work more thoroughly. There seems to be a missing section from the paper version. Curious to know if anyone else had the same issue.
