In an autobiographical essay, Williamson relates that he was frustrated with the difficulty of selling his short stories and was discussing the issue on the Baen's Bar forum.

[1] Williamson has remarked that the main character of Kendra Pacelli is partially based on himself and his experience immigrating from the UK to Canada and the United States.

Differences she must deal with include total lack of regulation of anything, pervasive personal firearms ownership, relaxed mores regarding sex and dress, voluntary taxation, almost nonexistent crime, and minimal government infrastructure.

Kendra is stranded out in the rural sections of the planet, and becomes a commander of a local guerrilla force made up of a large community of farming families.

Eventually the Freeholders organize a massive counter-offensive in which Kendra is charged with holding an infantry line against a numerically superior force with little support.

In a review for Prometheus, the newsletter of the Libertarian Futurist Society, Fran Van Cleave criticized the depictions of torture and violence and called the book a "neo-con fantasy".

[7] Don D'Ammassa described Freehold as an "oversimplified, black-and-white" political tract with an unrealistic view of humanity, and a "very long but frankly not very entertaining diatribe".

[8] Michael M. Jones of SF Site conversely called Williamson's portrayal of a libertarian society "sound and believable" and described the book as "a satisfactory debut".