The volume deals with the global rise of human rights in the "long" 1970s, discussing if the decade can be considered a new departure in the history of the idea. The authors deal with a broad panoply of topics, ranging from apartheid and South American dictatorships to U.S. foreign policy and Eastern European dissidence.

Contributions by: Ned Richardson-Little, Simon Stevens, Daniel Sargent, Bradley Simpson, Linsay Skiba, Veronika Heyde, Benjamin Gilde, Jan Eckel, Samuel Moyn, Veronika Heyde, Carl Bon Tempo, Gunte Dehnert, Celia Donert, Benjamin Gilde, Lasse Heerten, Patrick W. Kelly, Benjamin Nathans