Caroline Breashears
About the Author
Caroline Breashers is a Professor of English at St. Lawrence University. Previous publications have appeared in EconLib, The Journal of Ayn Rand Studies, Modern Philology, Eighteenth-Century Fiction, Aphra Behn Online, Script & Print, The International Journal of Pluralistic Economic Education, and Philological Quarterly. Her book Eighteenth-Century Women’s Writing and the “Scandalous Memoir” was published by Palgrave Macmillan in 2017.
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.