If only all philosophy was written so clearly. (Well, except for the paragraphs that would go on for pages, that is.) Even so, Mill's work is not only clear, it's concise, and his argument for individual liberty and the restriction of state power is a convincing one. The second chapter, "Of the Liberty of Thought and Discussion", was particularly excellent, the high point of the book. The discussion therein, tracing all the ways in which the repression of questioning and alternate opinion has degenerative effects on both individual and society, left me in no doubt as to why this book has the reputation that it does.

I do think that, overall, there could have been a bit more practical example in here, though. The final chapter did go some way towards this, but it was the least well-written and the most inclined to wander in its focus. That goes some way towards the lost star, as does the streak of racism which appears in parts of the book. The argument that "barbarian" races needed to be supervised rather as children are, to gradually earn their liberty in some nebulous and better-educated future, seems to me to be part of the unquestioned beliefs that Mill argues so carefully against in chapter two, referenced above. Which goes to show that everyone has their blind spots, I suppose.