On Liberty: The Subjection of Women [Paperback]

As given in the title "On Liberty and The Subjection of Women," the book includes two essays by John Stuart Mill. The first one, On Liberty, was proofread and edited by (I assume) the publishers, Classic Books America, New York, New York. The second essay, the subject of this review, was evidently not. I give examples from the first three pages of the essay, pages 130 - 132 of the book; I have inserted words that I believe were left out of the text in [square brackets]:

(1) (p. 130) "But it would be a mistake to suppose that the difficulty of the case must lie in the insufficiency or obscurity of the grounds of reason on which my convictions [rest]."
(2) (p. 130) "but when it rests solely on feeling, [the] worse it fares in argumentative contest...."
(3) (p. 130) "that we need not wonder to find them as yet less undermined and loosened than any of the rest by the progress [of] the great modern spiritual and social transition..."
(4) (p. 131) "They must be very fortunate [as] well as capable if they obtain a hearing at all."
(5) (p. 131) "and at no time [are] these required to do more than show that the evidence produced by the others is of no value."
(6) (p. 131) "It is held that there should be no restraint not required by I general good..." The word "I" should probably be "the."
(7) (p. 131) "It is useless to me to say that those who maintain the doctrine that men ha a right to command and women are under an obligation to obey..." The 'word' "ha" should be "have."
(8) (p. 132) "Before I could hope to make any impression, I should be expected not only to answer all that has ever been said bye [those] who take the other side of the question..." The word "bye" should be "by."
(9) (p. 132) "...but to imagine that could be said by them--to find them in reasons, as I as answer all I can find." This is the second half of the sentence quoted in (8) above. I couldn't make sense of it.
(10) (p. 132) "...and not a single unrefuted one on [the other? my?] side..."
(11) (p. 132) "...for a cause supported on the one hand by universal usage, and on the r by so great a preponderance of popular sentiment..." "r" should be "other."
(12) (p. 132) "I do not mention these difficulties to complain of them; first, use it would be useless..."
The word "use" doesn't seem to belong there, seems an antic repetition of the "use" in "uesless."
(13) (p. 132) "...as to give up practical principles in which [they?] have been born and bred..."
(14) (p. 132) "It is one of the characteristic prejudices of the ion of the nineteenth century against the eighteeneth, to d to the unreasoning elements in human nature..." This, too, seems to be nonsense, as published.

At this point I gave up and decided to buy another copy of this essay (the reason I bought the book in the first place) published by another publisher. I tried to locate "Classic Books America" on the internet, but they do not seem to have a website.

There are two other reviews on Amazon.com which mention this publisher (Classic Books America), and the reviewers made complaints about the lack of editing similar to mine. In one case, the book's title included an essay which was then not included in the book itself {a collection of essays by Thomas Paine). The other was a review of a collection of Greek tragedies by, I believe, Euripedes; this reviewer, too, made multiple objections to the editing of the book.

So I would definitely advise people to stear clear of this particular book done by this particular publisher, "Classic Books America," if they are interested to read Mill's essay on "The Subjection of Women," and buy it by another publisher. The essay "On Liberty" was adequately edited; at least I did not notice in it such errors as I've shown above.

Mill's ideas are delivered in clear language, and the steps between them are laid out rationally and logically, so that all his arguments are easy to follow. Unlike Rousseau, who treated political philosophy as something akin to a complex physics equation, Mill argues from reason and appeals to common sense. Furthermore, many of his arguments are fully applicable to political situations we see around us today. This book is WELL worth reading; in fact, were I given dictatorial powers, I would mandate that every person had to read this book before ever opening their mouth in a political discussion.

This edition is well printed and bound for a black spine penguin classic. The text is, of course, a classic, a seminal work in individual liberalism.

› Go to Amazon.com to see all 5 reviews  4.2 out of 5 stars