Isabel Paterson is widely recognized as an advocate of radical individualism and a prophet of the libertarian movement. She influenced a wide variety of libertarian and conservative writers and public figures, from Ayn Rand to William F. Buckley, Jr. In her own time, Paterson was noted as a literary critic and novelist, and one of the wittiest writers in America. She is best known for The God of the Machine, also published by Transaction.

Culture and Liberty includes many of Paterson’s works that are out of print or have never before been published. Stephen Cox collected Paterson’s words on themes she favored, illustrating leading features of her accomplishments and her views. Paterson’s way of combining individualist ideas with provocative writing made people look forward to her next pronouncement on American culture. Her fame while she lived and worked and the continuing interest in her ideas and writing are monuments to a complex but strongly unified personality.

Paterson remains one of the most distinctive voices in American literary history—as this selection of her writings will indicate. This book is a must read for English majors, literary critics, humanities scholars, and students of American culture.

Stephen Cox

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