Inventing Human Rights (Paperback)

Lynn Hunt

ISBN 10: 0393331997 / ISBN 13: 9780393331998

Published by WW Norton & Co, New York, 2008

About this Item

Paperback. "A tour de force."Gordon S. Wood, New York Times Book Review How were human rights invented, and how does their tumultuous history influence their perception and our ability to protect them today? From Professor Lynn Hunt comes this extraordinary cultural and intellectual history, which traces the roots of human rights to the rejection of torture as a means for finding the truth. She demonstrates how ideas of human relationships portrayed in novels and art helped spread these new ideals far and wide. Hunt also shows the continued relevance of human rights in today's world. "This is a wonderful history of the emergence and development of the powerful idea of human rights, written by one of the leading historians of our time."Amartya Sen "Hunt's survey is fast-paced, provocative and ultimately optimistic. Declarations, she writes, are not empty words but transformative; they make us want to become the people they claim we are."The New Yorker A tour de force.Gordon S. Wood, New York Times Book Review Shipping may be from multiple locations in the US or from the UK, depending on stock availability.

Seller Inventory # 9780393331998

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Inventing Human Rights (Paperback)
• Publisher: WW Norton & Co, New York
• Publication Date: 2008
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0393331997
• ISBN 13: 9780393331998
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition: 1st Edition
• Condition: new

About this title

Synopsis

“A tour de force.”―Gordon S. Wood, New York Times Book Review

How were human rights invented, and how does their tumultuous history influence their perception and our ability to protect them today? From Professor Lynn Hunt comes this extraordinary cultural and intellectual history, which traces the roots of human rights to the rejection of torture as a means for finding the truth. She demonstrates how ideas of human relationships portrayed in novels and art helped spread these new ideals and how human rights continue to be contested today.

About the Author

Lynn Hunt is distinguished research professor at the University of California, Los Angeles. The author of numerous works, including Inventing Human Rights and Writing History in the Global Era, and a former president of the American Historical Association, she lives in Los Angeles.