Magna Carta: The Birth of Liberty

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Honestly, the leadup is not that interesting, in my view, given that the document itself is of little relevance insofar as its actual text is concerned. It is true that at times John was no less ruthless than his brother Richard, nor any less manipulative than his father, Henry. An easy-to-read chronicle, written in the form of nearly 40 newspaper articles, highlights historical actions such as the banning of slavery in Britain, women’s voting rights, and the end of Apartheid in South Africa. While this book may not be the only book about the subject one would want to read, it certainly demonstrates that historian Dan Jones has been able to profitably expand upon his interest in the Plantagenet dynasty. It didn't start off good because Jones got dates wrong in his book, apparently John reigned until 2015.

If the document is now seen as democratic and egalitarian in nature, that is because of where we are and not because of what it was intended to do in the first place, something the author is right to point out.For the first time a group of subjects had forced an English king to agree to a document that limited his powers by law and protected their rights. There are … some valuable additions and corrections made by the coeditors of the edition, George Garnett and John Hudson. In fact, the document, according to Jones, went in and out of fashion several times, invoked time and again when absolute power was abused. Dan Jones takes us back to the turbulent year of 1215, when, beset by foreign crises and cornered by a growing domestic rebellion, King John reluctantly agreed to fix his seal to a document that would change the course of history.

No free man shall be seized or imprisoned, or stripped of his rights or possessions, or outlawed or exiled, or deprived of his standing in any way, nor will we proceed with force against him, or send others to do so, except by the lawful judgment of his equals or by the law of the land.A milestone in the development of constitutional politics and the rule of the law, the 'Great Charter' established an Englishman's right to Habeas Corpus and set limits to the exercise of royal power. He mended his fences with Innocent III because he needed his backing to fight against rebellious barons and a planned french invasion. Jones describes the numerous issues associated with tyrannical rule in England under a leader who is more concerned with his own net worth than improving the lives of his people. As Jones recounts, even in 2014 then-Prime Minister David Cameron pledged that all the children in the UK would study the document because ". It's amazing that something as mundane as a document can have so much history behind it and have such an influence on the modern world.