Translated into English for the first time, portrays a different side of Hegel -- not just as a philosopher preoccupied with abstract ideas but a man deeply enmeshed and active in the pressing, concrete political issues of his time Persuasively argues that the tug of war between conservative and liberal interpretations of Hegel has obscured and distorted the most important aspects of his political thought Available in English for the first time, Hegel and the Freedom of Moderns rejuvenates discussion of the major political and philosophical tenets underlying contemporary liberalism through a revolutionary interpretation of G. W. F. Hegel's thought. Domenico Losurdo, one of the world's leading Hegelians, reveals the philosopher as having been fully engaged with the political controversies of his time. In so doing, he shows how the issues addressed by Hegel in the nineteenth century resonate with many of the central political concerns of today, among them questions of community, nation, liberalism, and freedom. between conservative and liberal interpretations of Hegel has obscured and distorted the most important aspects of his political thought. Losurdo provides an illuminating discussion of the relation between Hegel's political philosophy and the thinking of Marx and Engels. He also discusses Hegel's ideas in relation to the pertinent writings of such other major figures of modern political philosophy as Jean Jacques Rousseau, John Locke, Edmund Burke, John Stuart Mill, Jeremy Bentham, Karl Popper, Norberto Bobbio, and Friedrich Hayek.