Synopsis Rhetoric versus Reality, a volume in the series New Agenda for Humanity, is in fact a case for making a world where there is respect for the human entitlement to justice, equality, dignity and liberty. The presenter is India’s tallest of the tall legal luminaries, Justice V.R. Krishna Iyer, former Judge of the Supreme Court of India and a great voice on the matters discussed here. For the sake of convenience, the study has been divided into two parts, covering the global scene and the Indian scene respectively. The write-ups are 14 in all. Exact in scholarship and profound in detail, they are an essential reading for all those who want to tease out for themselves an understanding of the complex debates going on these days on rights, justice and democratic values. They answer difficult questions and dispel darkness. Specialists, activists and generalists will, it is hoped, benefit a great deal from this remarkable work.