Freedom in Contemporary Society

Boston: Little Brown, 1956. 1 vols. 8vo. Original black cloth, some shelf wear, some pages and paragraphs excised. Inscribed on front free endpaper, "S.E. Morison / Desk copy. / (Imperfect)". 1 vols. 8vo. Morison's Own Copy. Taken from a series of lectures in which Morison discusses Political, Economic and Academic Freedoms in a lively and picturesque way. Morison has excised some pages and made some notes concerning the text on the rear paste-down; laid in is a 1954 newspaper column by Walter Lippman titled "Teaching in a Free Society", and pasted to the rear free endpaper is an article from a 1964 issue of The Observer concerning the effects of price-cutting on British retailing. Morison's book is an interesting departure from his usual concentration on naval history. Samuel Eliot Morison (1887-1976) taught at Harvard from 1915-1955. He was the author of books about the University, and New England, and, most notably, a series of important works on naval history. These include his biography of Columbus, Admiral of the Ocean Sea which won the 1942 Pulitzer Prize, and the 15-volume History of the United States Naval Operations in World War II, in which he was the official navy historian. He was, with Henry Steele Commager, co-author of The Growth of the American Republic. He won a second Pulitzer in 1959 for John Paul Jones: A Sailor's Biography. Morison was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1964.