Riddle of Human Rights

'...a singularly important contribution both to scholarship.' - Harry Glasbeek, York University. 'Unlike those whose sympathy is readily apparent, but whose analytical powers are capable of expressing little but heart-felt sorrow at a century of butchery and anguish at the abominations that will continue to beset us now that we have paid the toll to cross the bridge to the twenty-first century, Teeple is not merely devoted to authentic human rights but is also profoundly realistic about their origins and their future. His message is elegant in its simplicity. Contrary to such proud pronouncements as the American Declaration of Independence's insistence that the existence of human rights was "self-evident" and that they are "endowed by [the] Creator," Teeple is clear that rights to life, liberty and anything else are historically contingent and that their establishment and defence are at all times contested. The price of liberty is not merely eternal vigilance but enduring struggle.' College Quartely