A Free People's Suicide - by Os Guinness (Paperback)

About the Book

Cultural observer Guinness argues that the American experiment in freedom is at risk. He calls society to cultivate the essential civic character needed for ordered liberty and sustainable freedom.

Book Synopsis

A Logos Book of the Year

"If destruction be our lot, we must ourselves be its author and finisher. As a nation of freemen, we must live through all time, or die by suicide."

Abraham Lincoln

Nothing is more daring in the American experiment than the founders' belief that the American republic could remain free forever. But how was this to be done, and are Americans doing it today?

It is not enough for freedom to be won. It must also be sustained. Cultural observer Os Guinness argues that the American experiment in freedom is at risk. Summoning historical evidence on how democracies evolve, Guinness shows that contemporary views of freedom--most typically, a negative freedom from constraint-- are unsustainable because they undermine the conditions necessary for freedom to thrive. He calls us to reconsider the audacity of sustainable freedom and what it would take to restore it.

"In the end," Guinness writes, "the ultimate threat to the American republic will be Americans. The problem is not wolves at the door but termites in the floor." The future of the republic depends on whether Americans will rise to the challenge of living up to America's unfulfilled potential for freedom, both for itself and for the world.

Review Quotes

"A Free People's Suicide challenges each and every citizen concerned about America's diminishing role as a beacon of liberty not only to comprehend the urgency, but also to participate comprehensively in freedom's preservation."

--Albin Sadar, The Washington Times, washingtontimes.com

"A Free People's Suicide is an inside view from the outside. Os Guinness has a clear eye, a quick mind, a profound grasp of political philosophy and an eloquent pen. His analysis of American freedom, what it has been, now is and is likely to become, is a clarion call for renewal of the founders' vision for a free people."

--James W. Sire, author of The Universe Next Door and Václav Havel: The Intellectual Conscience of International Politics

"Dr. Guinness' book is rich in its explorations of Lincoln's words and their import for us today. As an expatriate friend of America, Guinness, like de Tocqueville, has a rare gift for helping us see our better selves. He casts a discerning eye at our modern institutions, and habits of the heart--as reflected in the broader culture. He freely concedes that there are worrying signs on the horizon, but then, having thoughtfully set out the challenges we face in our historical moment, he brings us back to the best things the founders gave us. On the whole, it's a fascinating perspective from a British citizen."

--Kevin Belmonte, Huffington Post Religion Blog, September 1, 2012

About the Author

Os Guinness (D.Phil., Oxford) is the author or editor of more than twenty-five books, including The American Hour, Time for Truth and The Case for Civility. A frequent speaker and prominent social critic, he was the founder of the Trinity Forum and has been a visiting fellow at the Brookings Institution as well as a guest scholar at the Woodrow Wilson Center for International Studies. Born in China and educated in England, he now lives near Washington, D.C.