McFarland's newest book elucidates the philosophical and historical conception of liberty. Centering his argument on the Romantic exaltation of freedom, McFarland identifies freedom, along with love and religion, as one of the three chief transcendences by which humanity orients itself. He reveals, through an examination ranging from Shakespeare and Luther through Nietzsche and Wagner, both the reasons for the supreme valuation of freedom and the nature of the theoretical and practical obstacles that hinder its realization.