Uploaded January 2025 | Updated September 2026, 1 day ago
After his groundbreaking books 'On Tyranny and 'The Road to Unfreedom', historian Timothy Snyder was asked: “What would a better America look like?” This new book, 'On Freedom', is his answer. In America and in much of the West, freedom is a much-vaunted ideal. But what is freedom? Snyder argues that the concept’s definition is often negatively formulated: when freedom is invoked, what we often mean is freedom-from: from occupation, oppression, or even government.
That sort of freedom is brittle and incomplete. Snyder posits that true freedom is freedom-to: the freedom to thrive, to take risks for futures we choose by working together. Freedom is the value that makes all other values possible.
In his powerful account, Snyder puts this concept—the Great American Commitment—to the test. What results is a thrilling intellectual journey: a political philosophy of abundance, generosity and grace that has its roots in experience. Drawing on the work of philosophers and political dissidents, from contemporary thinkers to poets, this is a bold narrative that enables us to imagine and design a government in which we and future generations can flourish.
This event was filmed at the Dominicuskerk in Amsterdam on January 24th, 2025. The interview was moderated by Eelco Bosch van Rosenthal.
After his groundbreaking books 'On Tyranny and 'The Road to Unfreedom', historian Timothy Snyder was asked: “What would a better America look like?” This new book, 'On Freedom', is his answer. In America and in much of the West, freedom is a much-vaunted ideal. But what is freedom? Snyder argues that the concept’s definition is often negatively formulated: when freedom is invoked, what we often mean is freedom-from: from occupation, oppression, or even government.
That sort of freedom is brittle and incomplete. Snyder posits that true freedom is freedom-to: the freedom to thrive, to take risks for futures we choose by working together. Freedom is the value that makes all other values possible.
In his powerful account, Snyder puts this concept—the Great American Commitment—to the test. What results is a thrilling intellectual journey: a political philosophy of abundance, generosity and grace that has its roots in experience. Drawing on the work of philosophers and political dissidents, from contemporary thinkers to poets, this is a bold narrative that enables us to imagine and design a government in which we and future generations can flourish.
This event was filmed at the Dominicuskerk in Amsterdam on January 24th, 2025. The interview was moderated by Eelco Bosch van Rosenthal.
