New Books in Western European Studies Moritz Föllmer, "The Quest for Individual Freedom: A Twentieth-Century European History" (Cambridge UP, 2025)
Jan 9, 2026
Moritz Föllmer, an Associate Professor of Modern History at the University of Amsterdam, discusses his book on the quest for individual freedom in 20th-century Europe. He explores how war paradoxically created both constraints and opportunities for freedom, especially for women. Föllmer critiques simplistic narratives around individuality, focusing on the diverse meanings of freedom amid conflicting political ideologies like social democracy and neoliberalism. He also delves into the complexities of colonialism, the evolution of personal liberties, and the ongoing tensions between individual and collective freedoms.
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Freedom As A Century-Long Quest
- The quest for individual freedom ran across the whole 20th century and often took place against adverse conditions like wars and dictatorships.
- Moritz Föllmer stresses tensions between ordinary people's localized claims and ambitious political agendas shaping freedom.
No Single Rise Or Fall Of Individuality
- Teleologies of rising or declining individuality oversimplify because freedom meant very different things to different people.
- Föllmer follows Simmel's view that freedom is a matter of degrees and ambivalence, not a single trajectory.
Freedom Is Defined Against Constraints
- Georg Simmel and Isaiah Berlin guide a layered approach: freedom has subjective degrees and is often defined against constraints.
- Föllmer expands Berlin's negative/positive freedom to include military, factory, and gender constraints as objects of freedom claims.
