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Rating: 
Summary: A Series of Somewhat Dry, Short Profiles
Review: "The Triumph of Liberty" is best purchased with the notion that you will chew on one or two short nuggets at a time to capture the essence of each "freedom fighter" profiled. Like Brokaw's "The Greatest Generation", it's a compilation of vignettes that illuminate and sometimes inspire, and which can be read in short bursts. "Liberty" is short on historical analysis and long on basic biographical formula, which made my own read feel somewhat monotonous. Still, it's a worthwhile contribution to the bookshelf of anyone who cares about the rights of the individual, and who knows how precarious those rights have been throughout man's history.
Rating:
Summary: A Series of Somewhat Dry, Short Profiles
Review: "The Triumph of Liberty" is best purchased with the notion that you will chew on one or two short nuggets at a time to capture the essence of each "freedom fighter" profiled. Like Brokaw's "The Greatest Generation", it's a compilation of vignettes that illuminate and sometimes inspire, and which can be read in short bursts. "Liberty" is short on historical analysis and long on basic biographical formula, which made my own read feel somewhat monotonous. Still, it's a worthwhile contribution to the bookshelf of anyone who cares about the rights of the individual, and who knows how precarious those rights have been throughout man's history.
Rating: 
Summary: Disappointing
Review: After shelling out thirty dollars for the hardcover edition of this book, I expected a connected book devoted to fully explaining the story of liberty as it has developed over the last 2000 years. What I received instead was a book devoted to providing short biographies of many disparate individuals whom the author, Jim Powell, thought all advanced the cause of liberty. Powell's analysis is formed in the context of his political ideological which he does not attempt to hide. He is a libertarian who believes in our inanieable right to life, liberty, and private property. I myself am a libertarian and this is why I bought the book. Yet the book seemed to assume that most people's conception of liberty is identical to the libertarian notion of liberty. Unfortunately, I suspect most non-libertarians do not define liberty in the way that Powell or I do. In assuming that true liberty is negative liberty or "freedom-from" and not explicitly defending that position and rebutting competing theories, Powell has limited the appeal of this book to those that are sympathetic to his views. Those that are sympathetic to Powell's ideology (like myself)are not likely to find anything that helps to explicate "the story of liberty" in this lengthy book. If one wants to know little tidbits about the disparate individuals in this book then this is the book for you. For those of you looking for serious historical scholarship told from a libertarian viewpoint; look elsewhere. Furthermore, some of the individuals included in the book devoted to praising "heroes of liberty" are dubious choices indeed. I will mention just one example because it is a glaring mistake on Powell's part to include him in a book devoted to liberty. Martin Luther King the legend has, in the years following his death, become the ultimate symbol of nondiscrimination and racial equality. Martin Luther King the man was surely a good man who had some good ideas but he also had a lot of bad ideas. King was a socialist - he fundamentally believed that government should redistribute wealth on a large scale. He did not believe liberty was intimately connected to a strong conception of property rights and limited government. King's most often listed "accomplishment" was the passage of the 1964 Civil Rights Act. This act, however, is fundamentally inconsistent with libertarian rights theory. Article 7, the part that limits liberty, states that private establishments and employers may not discriminate in hiring practices. In a free society private citizens start and own businesses. They put up the capital and accept the risk associated with operating a business. If their business fails they (and only they) accept the losses. If they want to engage in discriminatory practices in hiring they should not be prevented from doing so by the government which does not face the losses of a failed business decision. Thus King the man is not to be celebrated as a champion of true liberty. All in all this book is lengthy and uninspiring.
Rating: 
Summary: Inspiration for an ongoing struggle
Review: For anyone with an interest in history and an appreciation for the defining struggle of the 20th century (man against state), these vignettes provide both an inspiration and a warning. The inspiration is from the raw courage, conviction, and strength of these people; the warning is that many paid a heavy price and that the struggle for freedom is renewed with every generation. You don't have to be a libertarian or Republican to enjoy this; the context of these struggles is not always strictly poltical per se, but nearly all these men and women had allegiance to, and drew strength from, a higher ideal then man. Raoul Wallenberg's story alone is worth the price.
Rating:
Summary: A Gifted Writer with a mighty theme
Review: In this book Jim Powell attempts to tell us the story of liberty by illuminating the lives of it's greatest champions.Mr. Powell is a great storyteller and for the most part he succeeds in his mission of telling us the story of freedom's champions from Cicero to Ronald Reagan.The book might have been better if Powell had started out by giving us a definition of liberty. In the biblical sense liberty implies the ability to be morally self-governed.This was certainly how Locke, Jefferson and Franklin among other libertarians understood the term.If the concept of self-government is understood as it relates to liberty the author would have to eliminate the chapters on H.L. Mencken,and Albert Jay Nock among others.I agree with a previous reviewer that the book's inclusion of Martin Luther King Jr. is highly questionable.Dr. King was certainly a great man who achieved great things.But He was not a libertarian, He was a socialist.But beyond these criticisms this is an excellent book.My favorite chapter is the one about William E. Gladstone. Mr. Gladstone's life was the personification of liberty.Like John Locke and Hugo Grotius Gladstone was a devout christian who practiced moral self-government in his personal life and attempted to impose that same sense of self-discipline upon government. Once again this is a great book, which ought to be required reading in all of our schools. God bless you Jim Powell.
Rating:
Summary: An inspiring collection of inspiring life histories
Review: Powell deserves great credit for surveying the last two millenia of Western history to find liberty's "greatest champions". I found myself at the end begging for more analytic input from the author to "put it all together". But I am grateful for his compiling this list of the good guys in the struggle to attain the freedom which we all say we want, and are too often willing to sacrifice by pieces to other ends. The book would benefit greatly from better editorial attention to correct obvious syntactical errors and repetitions. Overall, an admirable addition to the literature of classical liberalism.
Rating:
Summary: An inspiring collection of inspiring life histories
Review: Powell deserves great credit for surveying the last two millenia of Western history to find liberty's "greatest champions". I found myself at the end begging for more analytic input from the author to "put it all together". But I am grateful for his compiling this list of the good guys in the struggle to attain the freedom which we all say we want, and are too often willing to sacrifice by pieces to other ends. The book would benefit greatly from better editorial attention to correct obvious syntactical errors and repetitions. Overall, an admirable addition to the literature of classical liberalism.
Rating:
Summary: finally, a history of triumph
Review: The subject matter here simply can't be beat. The biographies are universally well-written and often shed light on people you thought you knew well (for example, the Jefferson profile). Powell has also done us a great service by bringing to light some lesser-known individuals whose actions deserve more attention than they get in the usual history books (e.g. Edward Coke). Everyone will disagree with some of the opinions here, but that is only further evidence of the author's originality.
Rating: 
Summary: Masterful compilation of inspirational freedom fighters
Review: This book provides inspirational biographies of some of the major figures that have advanced the cause of liberty. Jim Powell is a masterful storyteller. A senior fellow at the Cato Institute and the senior book reviewer at laissezfaire.org, Powell's years of research help him produce a book that respects the struggle for liberty in the context of the times. This helps to produce a wide-ranging book that transcends sectarian politics. In this book you'll find the authors of some of the greatest books in history. This is virtually a book of books.
Rating:
Summary: A Triumph of Libertarian Scholarship
Review: With this book, Jim Powell advances the notion that modern history can best be viewed as a quest for freedom, and even the most cynical among us must agree that "wresting liberty from tyranny's iron fist" is indeed worth fighting for. In a series of short biographical vignettes, Powell looks at the lives of sixty-five historical figures that he deems heroes in this struggle, making for a fascinating and inspiring read. However, any such grouping of people is bound to spark debate, as very few of these individuals would call themselves "libertarian", nor would all libertarians be quick to claim them all as ancestors or heirs. Historian Paul Johnson may sum up this book best with these words from its foreword: "I do not agree with all of it". That luminaries like Cicero and Thomas Paine belong in this canon is almost without question, but the case for Beethoven, Goya, and Robert Heinlein (among others) requires one to adopt the modern "big L" libertarian perspective in its entirety. I, for one, would prefer to see Margaret Thatcher's place in the book removed, and replaced by a section on Nelson Mandela; economic issues aside, surely most people would place the latter above the former as a champion of liberty and justice in our time. Thus, the greatest weakness of this book is also its strength: it forces the reader to think, to consider what "liberty" really means. Given the state of the world today, that fact alone merits my recommendation.
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