In what may be his most important book yet, the Nobel Laureate presents an urgent reexamination of human rights to defend freedom and well-being across the world.

Amartya Sen, the world-renowned economist and tireless champion of the poor, is not content to rest on his laurels. Existentially concerned with the corrosion of human rights, Sen has crafted an impassioned manifesto whose ideas are vital to the flourishing of human civilization. The facts are stark: Seven hundred million people live in poverty. Fair elections are increasingly rare, with more than fifty countries suffering major democratic backsliding. Against this background of glaring injustice, Sen asks: What basic rights?freedom from hunger, illiteracy, torture, and arbitrary imprisonment?can human beings genuinely have? Sen provides answers that are both philosophically rigorous and bracingly practical, resulting in an enlightened and accessible work that guides us through the roiling waters of the twenty-first century, showing how the use of reason can mend a broken world.