Inventing Human Rights

"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 "...a rich, elegant and persuasive essay... there is much to be learned by drawing connections between the political events that shaped modern politics and the literary developments that shaped modern sensibilities." London Review of Books "A tour de force." The New York Times Book Review "To connect human rights to social history in this way is an original and interesting approach to the subject... She offers a lively and informative history." Wall Street Journal "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"