Caroline Breashears
About the Author
Caroline Breashears, is a professor at St. Lawrence who received her Ph.D. from the University of Virginia, specializes in eighteenth-century British literature. Recent publications include Eighteenth-Century Women's Writing and the "Scandalous Memoir" (Palgrave Macmillan, 2017) and articles in Aphra Behn Online and the International Journal of Pluralistic and Economics Education. She was recently an Adam Smith Scholar at Liberty Fund, and her current research focuses on Adam Smith and literature. She teaches courses on fairy tales, eighteenth-century British Literature, and Jane Austen.
What inspired you to start writing?
My parents gave me a typewriter when I was eight, and I've been pecking away at my keyboard ever since!
How did you discover the freedom philosophy?
I saw people around me who were miserable because they focused on the suffering in life rather than its possibilities. I looked for models of happiness and purpose and reason--models that celebrate individual potential and the institutions that enable it rather than restricting or even punishing it. I began reading everything that I could find that addresses human liberty and happiness, whether in literature, economics, philosophy, or political science. It's a process of discovery that does not--should not--end.
Who are your favorite writers?
I love Jane Austen for her wit and wisdom, and Ayn Rand for her courage and focus on purpose.
