In some cultures, people are aware of few alternatives, but those alternatives are open to all. In others there is a wide range of choices, but the range is not available to everybody. The questionówhich type of culture gives more freedom to its inhabitantsócauses us to think about what we mean by freedom. This book provokes thought throughout, citing actual examples from the author's encyclopedic knowledge of different cultures. Not just native cultures. The book also studies the cultures of anarchic communities which are deliberately created within "modern" society and discusses how closely the ideas of Josiah Warren, who initiated such communities, and Proudhon correspond to anarchism in the complete sense.