The subject of this book, the author writes, "is how to build institutions of liberty in this hemisphere of the Americas." Its thrust is twofold. First, Novak argues that North Americans and Latin Americans often speak past each other, conceptually. Without an understanding of the Catholic intellectual traditions of southern Europe and Latin America, he contends, "one cannot really enter the horizon of Latin American intellectual discourse." Second, he asserts that the basic reason Latin America has not reached full liberation is that it offers insufficient economic opportunity for the masses of its people. For this he offers a prescription: capitalism with minimal state intervention.

Michael Novak is the George Frederick Jewett Scholar in Religion, Philosophy, and Public Policy at AEI.