To introduce Freedom, the Spring 2023 issue of Lapham’s Quarterly, Lewis H. Lapham recruited Curtis White, a novelist and social critic who has collaborated closely with Lapham since his essay “The Middle Mind” appeared in the March 2002 issue of Harper’s Magazine.

In this conversation, White and Lapham discussed the issue, which takes a tour through stories about liberty told by people around the world as our notions of it have shifted from age to age. The issue features one hundred voices, from ancient arguments about free will, political rights, and the treatment of manumitted slaves to contemporary debates about power, access, and opportunity.

White’s essay “It’s Not About You” describes the many-headed problem of American unfreedom as one against which the countercultural comedic legend George Carlin and the teachings of Buddhism might offer surprising solace. Freedom is a word, writes White, “in which we have invested enormous amounts of energy without producing much in the way of illumination.”

This event was supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council.

Subscribe to Lapham’s Quarterly today, and you will receive Freedom as the first issue in your yearlong subscription.