The Fortunate: Ten great writers highlight how we created free and affluent societies

In The Fortunate, Peter Fenwick discusses the history, economics, and philosophies that underpin our modern world - the Lockean Revolution - highlighted by essays from some of his favourite writers.

Here, you will find Frederic Bastiat wittily demolishing protectionism; Leonard E. Read describing the miracle of the price mechanism; F.A. Hayek analysing sound economic decision-making; Ludwig von Mises explaining how life changes when ‘the customer becomes king’; Martin Luther King Jr dreaming of a United States in which its founding principles will apply equally regardless of race; Jonathan Haidt, Meg Wheatley and Peter Murphy warning us about disturbing trends in our society; Matt Ridley reviewing 100 years of communism; and Deirdre McCloskey explaining how the Great Enrichment came about due to a change in rhetoric about liberty and human dignity.

The philosophers of the Enlightenment told us that liberty works and that prosperity flows from it. Two hundred years of history has shown us that this is true - that it works in practice. Moreover, it applies, not just in the Anglosphere or in the developed world. The concepts are valid universally.

Societies which have embraced liberal democratic principles - individual rights, private property, the rule of law, and representative government - have thrived. Now everyone can live happy, prosperous and meaningful lives if they and their leaders choose to build their societies on these principles.

We should be proud of our heritage, confident in our achievements, and prepared to fight against forces that might unwittingly seek to destroy them. We are the fortunate. Let’s keep it that way.