In every age there have been voices speaking out against oppression. Today, from the International Women's Conference to Amnesty International, global interest in human rights is strong and growing. "The Human Rights Reader" explores the changing concept and practice of human rights through the writings of religious humanists, classical and modern thinkers, and political speeches.

"The third edition of The Human Rights Reader presents a dramatically revised organization and updated selections that illustrate the global history of human rights and present debates, and issues of inclusiveness central to those eras. This edition is the most comprehensive and up-to-date collection of essays, speeches, and documents from historical and contemporary sources, all of which are now placed in context with Micheline Ishay's substantial introduction to the reader as a whole and valuable introductions to each part and chapter"--

This book presents the most comprehensive collection of essays, speeches, and documents, from historical and contemporary sources, available on the subject of human rights.

"A definitive account of the history of human rights told from the perspective of those struggling to obtain them. Using the Enlightenment, industrialization, war, national self-determination, and globalization as lenses through which to look at their evolution, Ishay brings both historical context and conceptual acuity to modern debates about the role of human rights in a multicultural world. Her encompassing and compassionate approach issues in a book equally valuable to scholars, students, and citizens."—Benjamin Barber, University of Maryland, author of Jihad vs. McWorld "This well-written book, chock-full of knowledge, presents a history of the idea, or ideas, of human rights through the prism of the author's thoughtful views on key controversies that bedevil human rights discourse to this day."—Professor Sir Nigel Rodley, Chair, University of Essex Human Rights Centre; Member, (UN) Human Rights Committee "The first account of human rights as embedded in the history of political theory, relating it to the basic issues of Liberty, Equality and Fraternity. Erudite and non-dogmatic, Ishay reaches beyond individual human rights to issues of economic, cultural and national rights, and shows how the campaign for human rights was instrumental in bringing down oppressive regimes in the last decades... Humane and generous in its approach, brilliant in its conception and presentation."—Shlomo Avineri, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem

Weiyun and Others (1979)

This innovative reader brings together key works that demonstrate the important and unique contributions anthropologists have made to the understanding and practice of human rights over the last 60 years. Draws on a range of intellectual and methodological approaches to reveal both the ambiguities and potential of the postwar human rights project Brings together essays by both contemporary luminaries and seminal figures to provide a rich introduction to the subject Supplemented with selected international human rights documents and links to websites on human rights

8. The Koran (c. 632)