You Don't Own Me: Individualism and the Culture of Liberty

by Timothy Sandefur

Overview

The idea of individual liberty has had enormous influence in politics, economics, and religion, but its influence on the arts has also been immense. From pop music to films—from the poetry of John Milton to Star Trek and the novels of Zora Neale Hurston—individualism has had a cultural impact both pervasive and profound. In You Don’t Own Me: Individualism and the Culture of Liberty, Timothy Sandefur examines how people in America and Europe have addressed the unique experience of personal freedom in movies, songs, literature, and even architecture. “Individual self-sovereignty,” writes Sandefur, “has not only unleashed unprecedented economic and political progress. It has also given rise to a new kind of culture, one that celebrates autonomy and the freedom to make one’s own choices.”

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781964524863
Publisher:	Libertarianism.org Press
Publication date:	10/28/2025
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	240
File size:	622 KB

About the Author

Timothy Sandefur is vice president for legal affairs at the Goldwater Institute, where he holds the Clarence J. and Katherine P. Duncan Chair in Constitutional Government. He has litigated important cases involving economic liberty, private property, and other individual rights in courts nationwide. He is also the author of several books, including Freedom’s Furies: How Isabel Paterson, Rose Wilder Lane, and Ayn Rand Found Liberty in an Age of Darkness; (2023), Frederick Douglass: Self-Made Man; (2018), and Cornerstone of Liberty: Property Rights in 21st- Century America (second edition, coauthored with Christina Sandefur), as well as scores of scholarly articles on a wide range of subjects. He has written for Reason, National Review, The Wall Street Journal, The Weekly Standard, and The Objective Standard, where he is a contributing editor. He has taught at Pepperdine University, University of the Pacific's McGeorge School of Law, George Mason University, and Arizona State University, where he held the 2023–2024 Barry Goldwater Chair in American Institutions.