The extremely unique new book Inventing the Individual by Larry Siedentop, the celebrated author of Democracy in Europe, reexamines how our moral convictions developed and their influence on contemporary western culture. "Magisterial, ageless, and exquisitely written," Siedentop has accomplished something truly exceptional. He has provided us with an explanation. Spectator This ambitious and thought-provoking book explains how the discovery of human freedom and its potential for universal application in the first centuries AD sparked a moral revolution that eventually gave rise to a social revolution in the west. The claims of family, tribe, and caste as the foundation of social organisation progressively gave way to the formation of a new, equal social function, the individual. In his book, Larry Siedentop challenges us to reconsider the development of the concepts that underpin contemporary governments and societies.