Conor Gearty is Rausing Director of the Centre for the Study of Human Rights and Professor of Human Rights Law at LSE. He has published widely on terrorism, civil liberties and human rights. He is also a barrister and was a founder member of Matrix chambers from where he continues to practice. He has been a frequent adviser to judges, practitioners and public authorities on the implications of the UK Human Rights Act, and has frequently lectured at home and abroad on the topic of human rights. He has appeared in human rights cases in the House of Lords, the Court of Appeal and the High Court.

This book traces the origins of the term civil liberties, unpicking its various layers of meaning and explaining what it has come to mean today. Gearty argues that the protection of civil liberties is a vital front in the struggle to preserve political freedom and that a proper understanding of and commitment to civil liberties has never been more important.