Today’s Downsizer Dispatch . . .
Subject: Own a book from Harry Browne’s personal library
First, we only need 500 more messages to reach 40,000 messages to Congress for the fourth month in a row. Please help us reach this goal by sending a message today. You can send a message on any of our current campaigns listed on our home page, or we would specifically recommend sending a message to . . .
Prevent a war with Iran
Tell Congress you’re not afraid of terrorism, and that they should stop being afraid on your behalf
Repeal the fraudulent “Protect America Act”
Second . . .
Would you like to own a book from the personal library of the late great Harry Browne? I’m about to tell you how you can do that. Many of these books contain Harry’s personal notes and were used by him in writing his own books.
In addition to being one of the co-founders of Downsize DC, Harry was also the author of more than 13 books which sold more than 11 million copies, including a #1 New York Times best seller, and the classic “How I Found Freedom in an Unfree World.” His wife Pamela gave us a large chunk of his personal library after his death to use as a gift for major donors.
We really want to make budget this month, and there are only two days left to do that. Someone we all know and love is raising buckets of money right now, so we know we have to compete hard to get our little sliver of the pie. Maybe Harry’s library will help us to do that.
If you can make a contribution of $500 or more, we’ll send you one of the books from Harry’s library. The list of books, along with descriptions, is below my signature. When you make your contribution simply tell us which book you want in the comments section of the contribution form. We will send the books out on a first come basis, so please list your top three choices in order, in case someone else gets your preferred book first.
You can make your contribution of $500 or more and get your book here.
If tax deductions is important to you then make your contribution to the Downsize DC Foundation here.
If you can’t contribute enough to get a book but still want to help, you can contribute here.
And don’t forget to help us reach 40,000 messages to Congress for the month. The list of Harry’s books is below the signature. Thank you for being a DC Downsizer.
Jim Babka
President
DownsizeDC.org, Inc.
Harry’s library . . .
“The Nature Of Man And His Government” by Robert LeFevre, Marks, 1959, Soft back book, book in great Condition, but is slightly battered — The impact of this book sneaks up on the reader. The stark directness of the writing may at first blind him to its depth of understanding and to the ultimate implications of this philosophic interpretation of the nature of government. Written by an ardent spokes man for freedom and the libertarian philosophy, it is a particularly important book for Americans, most of whom have been steeped in the concept that their form of government is synonymous with freedom. It will prove of vital interest to every aroused patriot who wonders why the ” right wing can’t get together.” Perhaps this study will–for it certainly can–provide the necessary impetus and inspiration for a meeting of minds among Americans who are seeking to unite in a consistent and effective philosophy of government such as is to be found in the Declaration of Independence. It doesn’t propose to provide all the answers to the problems facing free men. It does approach the subject with a single purpose–that of dissecting government in its various manifestations from the beginning of tome. It grants that, because of the nature of man, some of the functions provided by government are in themselves desirable, and then it goes on to ask whether the agency of government is the only means, or the best means, by which these desired functions can be provided. As Rose Wilder Lane states in her introduction, “…It is revolutionary thinking.”
“The Enterprising Americans: A Business History of the United States” by John Chamberlain, marks and notes, 1961, soft back book, book in Great Condition, but has a red, spill stain on bottom of all pages — Mr. Chamberlain maintains a beautiful balance in his account of personalities, of innovation and invention,m of “trusts” and competition, of business organization, profit and loss, depression and inflation. We are at last beginning to build a literature on the real history and achievement of American capitalism. And John Chamberlain has made a brilliant contribution to it.
“The Power Of Congress (as Congress Sees It): the Congressional Correspondence of Robert LeFevre) edited by R. S. Radford, 1976, soft back book, book in great condition — Does anybody in Washington know what he’s supposed to be doing? While this question seems to arise with increasing frequency these days, no authoritative answer has been available–until now. In “The Power of Congress”, 45 members of Congress go one-on-one with Robert LeFevre (author, teacher, and president emeritus of Rampart College) and give us more insights than they could possibly have intended. LeFevre originally wrote to 533 members of the House and Senate concerning the self-contradictory nature of political representation in America. But after three months and 122 letters, the resulting dialogue had spilled over into every aspect of our political system the legislators could cite in defense of their function and conduct. Understanding that the disputed points could only be resolved by the American people, LeFevre gave to R. S. Radford, an instructor of economics at the University of Southern California, the opportunity to edit for publication this astonishing collection. The tone of the dialogue is constantly changing–the Congressmen seeming in turn thoughtful, arrogant, condescending, apologetic, obfuscating, pedantic, and confused. For his part, LeFevre can drive home his points mercilessly (and almost at will), but his sense of balance, style, and wit prevent any exchange from becoming a mere debate. Indexed, and arranged alphabetically by Congressman, this unique book can be read at two levels. The casual buyer of light non-fiction will enjoy seeing how his favorite Representative stacks up in verbal exchange with a crusty old iconoclast. But concerned citizens will be deeply troubled by the revelations of how far our republic has shifted from its original conceptual foundations.
• Capitalism and the Historians
By: T. S. Ashton, Louis Hacker, F. A. Hayek, W. H. Hutt, Bertrand De Jouvenel &
edited by F. A. Hayek
Marks
• 1963
• Soft back book
• Book in Great Condition, but cover is faded around edges
The views generally held about the rise of the factory system in Britain derive from highly distorted accounts of the social consequences of that system–so say the distinguished economic historians whose papers make up this book. The authors offer documentary evidence to support their conclusion that under capitalism the workers, despite long hours and other hardships of factory life, were better off financially, had more opportunities, and led a better life than had been the case before the Industrial Revolution.
• The Free And Prosperous Commonwealth
By: Ludwig von Mises
• 1962
• Hardback book
• Book in Great Condition, but paper cover is slightly tattered around edges
In this book, published originally in 1927, one of the most eminent contemporary champions of liberty presents a concise but comprehensive exposition of the fundamental principles of the philosophy of freedom and of the ideas and policies that in the nineteenth century were denoted by the term “liberalism.” With masterful lucidity he clarifies all the issues involved in the practical application of these doctrines to both domestic affairs and international relations. Beginning with an examination of the foundation of human society–the division of labor–the author demonstrates that private ownership of the means of production is the “only practicable arrangement of human cooperation” and, consequently, the indispensable precondition for modern industrial civilization. From this one principle he derives, with rigorous logic, all the remaining demands of the liberal program: freedom of labor, peace among nations, equality before the law, religious toleration, and representative government. The solution of the problems engendered by nationalism, colonialism, and imperialism is to be found in the advantages to be derived by all nations from the intensification and elaboration of the international division of labor in a regime of economic freedom. Interventionism, the interference of government with the market phenomena, on the other hand, is shown to aggravate national and racial antagonisms and to produce the very frictions that ultimately lead to war. Placed in its historic setting, as the outgrowth of the rationalism of the eighteenth century, and especially of the then new science of economics, nineteenth-century liberalism is seen as the most consistent and systematic attempt in the history of ideas to elucidate the principles on which all human cooperation is founded and as the only political theory that constitutes a sound basis for the realization of worldwide peace and prosperity.
• The Market For Liberty: Is Government Really Necessary?
By: Morris & Linda Tannehill
Marks
• 1970
• Soft back book
• Book in Great Condition
This provocative book projects a totally free society–with no government–and demonstrates how liberty, justice, and peace can be maintained by market means alone.
• Capitalism & Freedom: A leading economist’s view of the proper role of competitive
capitalism
By: Milton Friedman
• 1962
• Soft back book
• Book in Great Condition, but cover looks slightly used
In “Capitalism and Freedom” Professor Friedman expounds his view of the proper role of competitive capitalism–the organization of the bulk of our economic activity through private enterprise operating in a free market–as simultaneously a device for achieving economic freedom and a necessary condition for political freedom.
• The Road To Serfdom
By: Friedrich A. Hayek
• 1967
• Soft back book
• Book in Great Condition, but outside is slightly discolored around edges
A center of acute controversy when originally published in 1944, the reasoned views expressed in this book should not be obscured in the fog of polemic laid down by zealous partisans and opponents of the author’s viewpoint. Mr. Hayek holds that the extended collectivism toward which free nations are gradually moving is incompatible with democracy, that social planning, as interpreted today, may eventually destroy all individual freedom, political no less than economic. Firmly based on the principles of nineteenth-century liberalism, Mr. Hayek’s argument remains of great and perhaps heightened relevance today.
• The American Omen
By: Garet Garrett
• 1928
• Hardback book
• Book in Great Condition
NO SUMMARY OF BOOK
• Bureaucracy
By: Ludwig von Mises
• 1962
• Hardback book
• Book in Great Condition, but paper cover on spine is slightly discolored
“There are two methods of the conduct of affairs within the frame of human society, i.e. peaceful cooperation among men. One is bureaucratic management, the other is profit management.” Ludwig von Mises does not condemn bureaucracy per se; he shows where he thinks it is applicable and necessary, and puts into bold relief what he considers the disastrous effects of substituting government action for private enterprise. The historical conflict between individualism and collectivism divides mankind now into two hostile camps, and the investigation of the contrast between bureaucratic and business management is of great current importance. There is great merit in much of what Mr. von Mises has to say about the political and psychological dangers of state interventionism; the stultification that follows from an expansion of the governmental bureaus, the fear of innovation and the cynical contempt for the popular will–these are real dangers against which enough warnings cannot be raised.
• A Bubble That Broke The World
By: Garet Garrett
• 1932
• Soft back book
• Book in Great Condition, but spine is slightly worn down and faded
NO SUMMARY OF BOOK
• Democracy in America (Alexis de Tocqueville)
By: Richard D. Heffner
• 1956
• Soft back book
• Book in Great Condition but slightly worn and used looking
One of the great classics in political literature, this comprehensive and enlightening survey of the government, culture, literature, and attitudes of democratic America, written over a hundred years ago by Alexis de Tocqueville, political scientist and diplomat, has as much bearing today as in the day it was written.
• Too Much Government Too Much Taxation
By: Charles Norman Fay
• 1923
• First Edition
• Hardback book
• Book in Great Condition, but spine is faded
• Theory And History: An interpretation of social and economic evolution
By: Ludwig von Mises
• 1969
• Hardback book
• Book in Great Condition, but paper cover is slightly tattered around edges
For more than half a century Ludwig von Mises has pondered the great issues he discusses in this book. Perhaps the world’s foremost economist, he sums up here his views on what man can know in social science like economics; how this kind of knowledge differs from historical learning, metaphysics, or the physical sciences; and how it may be put to work for the shaping of both ends and means in the Western world. This is the economic philosophy of one of the original, untrammeled minds of this century. It is the work of an unshakeable champion of the individual and his need to make his own choices, and even mistakes, in his search for the good things of life.
• The Fearful Master: A Second Look At The United States
By: G. Edward Griffin
• 1964
• Hardback book
• Book in Great Condition, but paper cover is slightly faded around edges
“The Fearful Master” is one of those very few books that have within them the potential energy to cause sweeping political or social movements. If there is one work that can counteract the universal effect of elaborate and expensive pro-United Nations propaganda, G. Edward Griffin has written that book. Thoroughly documented, a work of careful and dedicated research, “The Fearful Master” is, however, much more than a research paper or a scholarly essay. It is a clear and forceful call to action regarding the United Nations. The book contains four divisions:
Part 1: Katanga – A Case History
Part 2: The Master Planners – Communist Control of the United Nations
Part 3: Psychological Warfare – UN Capture of the American Mind
Part 4: The Fearful Master – The Present Reality –An Imminent Danger
Here is the probing study of the United Nations awaited with apprehension by liberals and with anticipation by conservatives. Citizens of all political viewpoints will find this a significant volume, for it can provide the needed impulse to challenge The Fearful Master.
• For A New Liberty
By: Murray N. Rothbard
• 1973
• First Edition
• Hardback book
• Book in Great Condition, but paper cover is slightly torn and discolored on spine
In this book, the leading libertarian theoretician and spokesman surveys the background, the beliefs, and the potentials of this dynamic new movement in American politics. Murray N. Rothbard explains that libertarians reject traditional Liberalism as a failure–because it produced the welfare mess, the sprawling bureaucracy, the war in Asia, and other disasters; and traditional “National Review” Conservatism as hypocrisy–because it speaks of personal freedom while embracing the very powers that diminish it. “The crucial axiom,” Rothbard states, ” is that no man or group of men have the right to aggress against the person or property of anyone else.” Applying this creed to the major issues facing America today, Rothbard argues that libertarianism could solve these problems by replacing coercive government action with voluntary private and free-market action. He includes chapters on personal liberty and civil rights; involuntary servitude (the draft, for example); welfare and education; streets and roads; police, courts, and the administration of justice; conservation and pollution; war and foreign policy. In each of these areas, Rothbard shows how private citizens can voluntarily supply services to meet public needs far more efficiently and morally than any government, and without the inevitable conflicts and exploitation that a government brings in its wake. In conclusion, Rothbard outlines some principles of libertarian strategy, discussing its potential appeal to the left and to the right, to youth and to the middle class, to discontented minorities and to the majorities that could make libertarianism a major force in the politics of the 70’s.
• Taxation: The People’s Business
By: Andrew W. Mellon
• 1924
• Most likely a First Edition
• Hardback book
• Book in Great Condition
NO SUMMARY OF BOOK
• Pioneers Of American Freedom
By: Rudolf Rocker
• 1949
• Hardback book
• Book in Great Condition, but paper cover is slightly tattered around edges
“The story of our pioneers has often been told. The unique characteristic of this volume comes from the author who has offered its pages…By training, travel and the production of epoch-making studies of liberal movements, he brings to the task an equipment that has found no equal anywhere…Here is a volume that sets forth the contributions toward freedom that are original to our own soil. However, these are given with a proper setting of a European background that adds illumination to the brilliance and creativeness of our greatest leaders (T. Paine, T. Jefferson, Wm. Garrison, R. W. Emerson, Abe Lincoln, etc.) of progressive action toward the dawn of a New Age.”
• The Free Market and Its Enemy
By: Leonard E. Read
Marks
• 1965
• Hardback book
• Book in Great Condition.
NO SUMMARY OF BOOK
• The New Deal In Old Rome
By: H. J. Haskell
• 1939
• First Edition
• Hardback book
• Book in Great Condition, but outside cover is worn down and faded
NO SUMMARY OF BOOK
• Jefferson
By: Albert Jay Nock
• 1926
• Hardback book
• Book in Great Condition, but spine is faded
NO SUMMARY OF BOOK
• The New Approach to Freedom
By: E. C. Riegel
• 1976
• Hardback book
• Book in Great Condition
“Self-government, so-called, is the art of governing government. It has been slowly and painfully developed. Now, through an Open Seasme to tyranny offered by the universal ignorance of money, it is threatened with becoming a lost art. The state’s modern method of deceiving the citizen with counterfeit money menaces civilization through a confusion of monetary tongues and renders society unfit for self government until its ignorance of money shall be dispelled and government of government restored by the separtaion of money and state. In view of the transcendency of this issue, where is there a friend of freedom who will not give its solution priority over any and all other reforms? I ask you, Earnestly.” E. C. Riegel
• Remember These Things
By: Paul Harvey
• 1952
• Hardback book
• Book in Great Condition, but paper cover is faded, and torn around edges
“In it, Paul Harvey reveals the wisdom and justice of our forefathers and their appreciation of the weaknesses and failures of human beings. “Remember These Things” makes us vividly conscious of how little we, of this generation, remember, of what we have been or what we have known. One of the great weaknesses of human beings is our failure to remember in proper perspective the achievements of our past and thereby we penalize the generations to come. The Freedoms and Liberties, handed down to us, have made it possible for America to grow into world leadership in the short period of 165 years. Without these freedoms and opportunities, we Americans might now be paying the penalty that the peoples of practically every other nation int he world are paying today–namely, being slaves of the State, instead of the State being a servant of the people.”
• The Golden Constant
By: Roy W. Jastram
Marks & Notes
• 1977
• Hardback book
• Book in Great Condition
NO SUMMARY OF BOOK
• The Man Versus The State
By: Herbert Spencer
Marks
• 1960
• Hardback book
• Book in Great Condition, but paper cover spine is faded
With the powers of government becoming broader with each year, with officialdom growing at a ruinous rate, wand with freedom fighting a losing battle on fortified fronts, there has still been no last intellectual rampart to which the protagonists of freedom have learned to turn. “The Man Versus The State”, by Herbert Spencer, written during the expanding State collectivism of the last century, has served that purpose for a few readers, but, being out of print, the work has been known only to a few. With full realization of its enduring importance and its especial value to our own day, Albert Jay Nock has prepared for republication this book, which defines the limits of government, and which shows the steps by which all State collectivist movements such as socialism, communism, and the New Deal, must inevitably end in a slave State. It will present the lover of freedom with a dialectic basis that will serve him as fundamentally as Marx’s Das Kapital serves the communist.
• Ludwig von Mises, Notes and Recollections
By: Ludwig von Mises
Marks
• 1978
• Hardback book
• Book in Great Condition, but paper cover is slightly faded
NO SUMMARY OF BOOK
• The Government Against The Economy
By: George Reisman
• 1979
• Hardback book
• Book and Paper cover in Great Condition
This is a powerful and convincing book, which explains step by step how our government is wrecking our economic system through policies of inflation and price controls–all the while placing the blame for the resulting chaos on businessmen and using it as the pretext for further expanding its power over the economy. Written for the intelligent layman who may have no previous knowledge of basic economic theory, this book not only shows where government policy has gone wrong, it also shows how to restore the health of our economic system, for the benefit of all Americans. Included are sections on
: • “Why the Arab Oil Embargo Would Not Have Been a Threat to a Free Economy”
• “The Destruction of the Utilities and the Other Regulated Industries”
• “How Price controls Actually Raise Prices”
• “The Case for the Immediate Repeal of Rent Control”
• “Socialism on the Nazi Pattern”
• “The Myth of Socialist Planning–the Anarchy of Socialist Production”
-as well as a detailed critique of President Carter’s wage and price control plan implemented during the winter of 1978-79. For those who want to understand what is really happening to our economy, and why, this book is mandatory reading.
• The Burden of Government
By: Edwin S. Mills
• 1986
• Hardback book
• Book and Paper cover in Great Condition
In the last century, the greatest growth sector in the economies of high-income countries has been government. Whether such growth has had positive or negative effects on economic well-being is one of the most controversial and important issues of our time. In a comprehensive economic study of the role governments play in contemporary (primarily U.S.) society, Edwin S. Mills posits that the social efficiency, equity, innovativeness, flexibility, and growth of economies depend on the ways in which governments relate to economic activity. Operating under the assumption that governments are motivated to achieve social efficiency and equity, “The Burden of Government” employs fundamental, but nontechnical, economic theory to analyze that governments should and should not do to affect domestic economies. Considerable use is made of long-term historical trends and of more contemporary, post-World War II data. Economic analysis of this detailed historical data provides insights into ways in which societies function and how they might function better. Defining social efficiency as the best use of a society’s resources to make people as well off as possible, Mills uses the framework of normative (welfare) economics to analyze
: • what governments should and should not do to promote social efficiency
• appropriate national government macroeconomic policies
• regulatory actions of federal, state, and local governments
• the role of governments in poor countries
• what private groups can do better than governments and what governments can do
better than private groups
Mills argues that the belief that governments know people’s preferences better than people do is not a legitimate reason for governments to intervene to control behavior. Yet, he points out, there may be many reasons why private behavior does not lead to resource allocation that would enable people to be as well off as possible. If so, there may be methods by which government can intervene to make people better off. The “burden of government” is to assess the feasibility of these methods and to implement acceptable courses of action. Mill’s treatise deals exhaustively with the complex social and economic ramifications inherent in employment of such methods.
• American Taxation
By: Sidney Ratner
• 1942
• First Edition
• Hardback book
• Book in Great Condition, but outside covers are worn down and faded
NO SUMMARY OF BOOK
• Liberty: A Path To Its Recovery
By: F. A. Harper
• 1949
• Hardback book
• Book in Great Condition, but spine and edges are somewhat faded
NO SUMMARY OF BOOK
• Ending The War On Drugs
By: Dirk Chase Eldredge
• 1998
• Hardback book
• Book and Paper cover in Great Condition
For decades the U. S. has conducted a costly, escalating–and largely futile–war on illegal drugs. Author Dirk Chase Eldredge, a conservative Republican, examines how and why America is losing the war on drugs. He shows how the drug war has led only to overcrowded courts and prisons, rising crime, official corruption, eroded civil rights and race relations, and new public-health crises. In “Ending the War on Drugs”, Eldredge makes a case for an alternative policy: carefully controlled legalization, with resulting income used to fund greatly expanded drug education, prevention, research and treatment programs. He addresses head-on such questions as: Would legalization expand drug use? Would it expose more children to drugs? “Prohibition has spawned, as it always does, a robust black market, which inevitably spins off many social pathologies,” he writes, “and is a policy that can only fail because its objective–a drug-free America–is unrealistic and unattainable.” Eldredge examines ever facet of drugs in America–from statistics on casual use and addiction, to the workings of the vast smuggling networks of Colombian cartels and Asian opium traffickers, to the often shoddy operations of the Justice Department, FBI and other government agencies. Again and again he reveals the countless ways in which the war on drugs is not working: only an estimated 10% to 25% of illegal drugs are stopped at our borders, despite massive efforts; cocaine, heroin and marijuana actually have increased in purity because law-enforcement efforts have led smugglers to dilute less, thereby decreasing bulk; the number of deaths due to drug trafficking far exceeds those due to drug use; and, perhaps most disturbing, the street prices of illegal drugs actually have fallen since the 1980s. “Ending the War on Drugs” is a thoughtful, provocative analysis, supported by facts and sobering anecdotes, that has been praised by William F. Buckley, Jr., Nobel laureate Milton Friedman, and leading members of the medical and law-enforcement communities as an important contribution to helping Americans understand this pervasive problem and to expanding informed public debate on alternatives to present failed policies.
• Capitalism The Creator
By: Carl Snyder
• 1940
• Hardback book
• Book in Great Condition
NO SUMMARY OF BOOK
• The Age of the Moguls
By: Stewart H. Holbrook
Marks
• 1953
• Hardback book
• Book in Great Condition, but paper cover is slightly tattered around edges
Vanderbilt, Carnegie, Rockefeller, Ford, Drew, Fisk, Harriman, Du Pont, Morgan, Mellon, Insull, Gould, Frick, Schwab, Swift, Guggenheim, Hearst–these were only a few of the moguls. They changed the face of America. And they gave living reality to that great golden legend–The American Dream. Most of them were self-made in the Horatio Alger tradition and those whose beginnings were blessed with wealth parlayed their inheritances many times through to the same methods as their rags-to-riches compatriots: shrewdness or ruthlessness or determination or a combination of all three. Stewart Holbrook has written a brilliant and wholly captivating study of the days when America’s great fortunes were built; when futures were unlimited; when tycoons trampled roughshod across the land. Few writers today could range backwards and forwards in American history through the period of the last hundred years, could take their readers to a dozen different sections of the country, or could combine the lives of over fifty famous men in such a way as to produce a continuous and exciting narrative. This Mr. Holbrook has done with impressive results. He writes: “Likely no one will ever be able to draw up a satisfactory balance sheet of their age. They plundered and they wasted, and for half a century it has been a popular literary exercise to attack their reputations as great enterprisers and to deny that their labors were other than futile, or even harmful to our country. My account will not attempt to pass judgments on matters that have baffled moralists, economists, and historians. I happen to believe that no matter how these men accumulated their fortunes, their total activities were the greatest influence in bringing the United States to its present incomparable position in the world of business and industry. But I shall use neither gilt not white-wash. Nor tar.”
• Economics Of The Free Society
By: Wilhelm Roepke
Marks
• 1963
• Hardback book
• Book in Great Condition, but paper cover is slightly tattered around edges
With astonishing clarity, Professor Roepke has made readily understandable for the beginning student the basic forces inherent in all economic activity, and has also meticulously analyzed the various systems constructed to productively harness these elements. Designed as either a basic or supplementary introductory text, “Economics of the Free Society” is founded upon a common sense synthesis which supersedes the rival economic ideologies of the past several centuries. Not a half-and-half compromise between socialist and libertarian approaches to economics, however, Roepke’s position offers an escape from the grave social disorders caused by the ideological approach to economics. Captured by this book is the practical wisdom that guided the post-war economic recovery of West Germany–counsel that earned Roepke the Grand Cross of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany. The goal of his approach to the economic science is liberation of man from both the degradation of slave labor, and from the selfishness of unbridled materialism.
• Conceived In Liberty: Volume 1
By: Murray N. Rothbard
• 1975
• Hardback book
• Book in Great Condition, but paper cover is frayed around edges
In this first of a projected three volumes, Murray Rothbard provides a bold new interpretation of the American colonies in the 17th century. But why another American history? Because Dr. Rothbard has exciting new insights to offer. Contemporary American histories too often present only sweeping generalizations studded with a few names and dates. “Conceived in Liberty” returns to an older tradition: the detailed narrative that lets us catch the flavor of an era. Shining through the Rothbard narrative are feisty, rambunctious colonists who take kindly to no human authority. They erupted in a spate of rebellions in the late 1600s–revolts that made the climate congenial for the later Revolution, and fortified libertarian attitudes among our forebears. The 17th century is treated brusquely in history textbooks. yet it was the critical period when all but one of the original colonies were founded, in glorious diversity. The motivations of these colonists were varied, their fortunes fluctuating. But soon all of them found the air of freedom exhilarating, a heady change from life in the mother country. Virginia planter William Byrd would complain that North Carolinians were treating their governors “with all the excesses of freedom and familiarity. They are of the opinion that rulers would be apt to grow insolent if they grow rich, and for that reason take care to keep them poorer.” As America’s leading libertarian thinker, Dr. Rothbard sympathizes most with the Quakers. “Whenever anyone in the American colonies in the 17th century decided to embark on a policy of tyranny and religious persecution, the first group to bear the brunt was usually the hapless Quakers–of all sects the least devoted to idolatry of church or state.” Dr. Rothbard explores in depth the liberating influence of predominantly Quaker settlements in Rhode Island, West (now southern) New Jersey, and of course Pennsylvania, which pushed Quaker libertarianism to its limits. The author relates the “Pennsylvania lived for the greater part of four years in a de facto condition of individual anarchism, and seemed none the worse for the experience.” This, then, is fresh history, the sort that never finds its way into the standard texts. The colorful narrative is spiced with robust Rothbard wit. At his liveliest when most iconoclastic, Dr. Rothbard here displays the verve and originality that have made him the fountainhead of modern libertarian thought.
• The Coming Currency Collapse and what you can do about it
By: Jerome F. Smith
• 1980
• Hardback book
• Book in Great Condition, but paper cover has a tear on the top of the spine
Smith offers compelling evidence that the structure of our present political institutions will lead to hyperinflation with in this decade! Can you afford to ignore this warning? This could be the most important money book you read in the 80’s. It is an investment road map for the decade with mine fields and opportunities clearly identified. First, Jerome Smith defines the primary forces which will affect all investments–providing you with a structural framework in which to evaluate all money decision. Second, he offers specific capital survival recommendations. One of the key reasons for Mr. Smith’s remarkable success is his ability to derive practical investment conclusions and methods from his theoretical economic reasoning–never losing sight of the fact that his reputation and livelihood depend on the profitability of these conclusions. Since history foes nor repeat itself exactly, and the past is only partially useful in projecting the future, objectivity and analysis is crucial to identifying trends and predicting their effect. No one can say whether Mr. Smith’s current projections and recommendations will prove as accurate and profitable as those he made in the past. However, he is employing exactly the same reasoning and analytical methods today, that led to his prior successes. No doubt, to some, the projections, he makes in this book will appear as improbable today, as those he made on silver, gold, and platinum, many years ago. But by the end of this decade, in all likelihood (judging by the record) the predictions of this book will be widely known and repeated. Investors wishing to stay ahead of the crowd should read this book as soon as possible!
• Toward Liberty: Volume I
By: Many people in honor of Ludwig von Mises
• 1971
• Hardback book
• Great Condition
NO SUMMARY OF BOOK
• Toward Liberty: Volume II
By: Many people in honor of Ludwig von Mises
• 1971
• Hardback book
• Book in Great Condition
NO SUMMARY OF BOOK
• The Memoirs Of A Superfluous Man
By: Albert Jay Nock
Marks
• 1964
• Hardback book
• Book in Great Condition, but paper cover is tattered around edges
This unique autobiography records the adventures of a keen and seemingly detached (though in actuality, intensely concerned) observer of the past half century of American life and thought. Nock’s narrative waves in and out of the political, economic, asocial, and literary scene, in America and in Europe, revealing the ripe harvest of the author’s association with events and personalities which have determined the course of twentieth-century history. This book is a flowing account of Nock and his world. The Memoirs are written in lucid and brilliant prose, with a quizzical humor that sharpens Nock’s insights. They are important not only for the splendid portrait given of the author, but also for their probings into the spirit of early twentieth-century America.
• Dreamers of The American Dream
By: Stewart H. Holbrook
Marks
• 1957
• Hardback book
• Book in Great Condition
NO SUMMARY OF BOOK
• The Superfluous Anarchist: Albert Jay Nock
By: Michael Wreszin
• 1971
• Hardback book
• Book in Great Condition, but paper cover is slightly worn down around edges
This new assessment of Albert Jay Nock establishes the enigmatic author of “Memoirs of a Superfluous Man” as one of the most penetrating twentieth-century critics of American life. Nock was an Episcopal clergyman who left the ministry for liberal, muckraking journalism and became coeditor of the radical literary weekly the Freeman in 1920. Later, besides innumerable essays on the quality of American life, he produced unique studies of Jefferson, Rabelais, and Henry George. His celebrated autobiography, “Memoirs of a Superfluous Man”, appeared in 1943, two years before his death. Enamored of the the power of ideas and the potential of the individual, this latter-day spokesman for an American tradition of philosophical anarchism battled all his life against standardization and dehumanization. Michael Wreszin traces Nock’s extraordinary intellectual journey from its beginnings in humanitarian individualism, in the tradition of Emerson, to the embittered elitism that blighted Nock’s last years just as it had those of Henry Adams. It was a journey enlivened by conflicts, among them a running dispute with H. L. Mencken over the quality of the common man’s taste. In the end Nock was so torn between humanitarian faith in the nobility of free men and elitist belief in the freedom of noble men that he retreated into a world of misanthropic isolation. But his indictment of American life stands. Today constructive Nockian dissent is evident in all quarters of the political scene, and the implications of this insights into dilemmas that have grown even more menacing since he drew attention to them cannot be ignored.
• Planned Chaos
By: Ludwig von Mises
• 1965
• Soft back book
• Great Condition
NO SUMMARY OF BOOK
• Liberalism In The Classical Tradition
By: Ludwig von Mises
• 1985
• Soft back book
• Great Condition
“In ‘Liberalism’ Mises not only offers brief explanations of many important economic phenomena, but he also presents, more explicitly than in any of his other books, his views on government and its very limited but essential role in preserving social cooperation under which the free market can function. Mises’ views still appear fresh and modern and readers will find his analysis pertinent.”
• How to Cure Yourself of Positive Thinking
By: Donald G. Smith
• 1976
• Hardback book
• Book in Great Condition, but paper cover is somewhat tattered and faded
…and there was nothing positive about the Boston Tea Party, either. Its members were very anti-dragon–interested only in protest and in an eye-catching way to tell King George what he could do with his tea tax. In fact, if you’ve noticed that you’re tired of being pushed, pulled, and tugged by Madison Avenue and tired of change just for the sake of change, you’re a candidate for being anti-dragon yourself. you’re ready to oppose positivism in its sicker manifestations and to read about a cure as refreshing as a bit of a crisp, cold apple (the one positive thinkers claim keeps the doctor away). The fact is that we are surrounded by positive thinkers. We live in their camp and thus are a credulous and accepting lot by training and influence, and we need to be cured of the miseries of being patsies. The author means it when he says we do not have to do anything in life that is unpleasant and unnecessary. We may have to put up with the dullness of our job, for instance, but we don’t have to put up with an acquaintance who is a journeyman fathead. As a veteran negativist and unquestioned credentials, author Smith attacks the ploys of the positive thinkers: their “everybody sing” concept; their “be involved” chantings; their “everybody should vote” urgings; their “pay your fair share” exhortations; their “get out and meet people” advice to someone who is lonely–when loneliness is not his problem. More likely he is a bore, or he might have bad breath, or he might be a rude, insulting person. In fact, he might even be a rude bore with bad breath who needs to solve all those problems first. Smith’s wit is enormous and so is his disgust; but unlike the author of “Gulliver’s Travels”, whose tombstone is sadly inscribed “Where fierce indignation can no longer tear his heart,” Donald Smith’s anger and indignation is not wasted. He is sure, even positive, that you can learn to be less credulous, less of a doormat–that you can learn to say NO!
• Men Against The State
By: James J. Martin
Marks
• 1953
• Hardback book
• Great Condition
NO SUMMARY OF BOOK
• Monetary Statistics Of The United States
By: Milton Friedman & Anna J. Schwartz
• 1970
• Hardback book
• Book in Great Condition, but paper cover is torn, tattered, and faded
Together with the authors’ earlier “A Monetary History of the United States”, 1867-1960, the present volume forms part of what will eventually be a series of five volumes devoted to the study of the quantity of money in the United States. While the previous volume analyzed the role of changes in the money stock in the nation’s history, this book provides a compendium of estimates of the quantity of money in the united States, together with a thorough treatment of the historical background, the sources of data, and the techniques for the construction of estimates of the quantity of money at any given time. As a preliminary to their main discussion, the authors establish a working definition of money, reviewing every major contribution to the understanding of this question, and critically examining various alternatives. In a historical survey they explore the work that has been done in the field of monetary estimates since the beginning of the Republic, evaluating in the process the basic source data for these early periods available to modern statisticians. The final section of the book contains the authors’ estimates of the money stock, together with subsidiary series and breakdowns of deposit estimates. The volume presents a comprehensive survey of the construction of estimates of the quantity of money in the United States. It offers a methodology to the monetary statistician and a plethora of raw material to the economic analyst.
• The American Story
By: Garet Garrett
• 1955
• Hardback book
• Great Condition
NO SUMMARY OF BOOK
• The Ultimate Foundation Of Economic Science
By: Ludwig von Mises
Marks
• 1978
• Hardback book
• Second Edition
• Great Condition
NO SUMMARY OF BOOK
• Mises Made Easier
By: Percy L. Greaves Jr.
• 1974
• Hardback book
• Book in Great Condition, but paper cover is somewhat faded
Mises’ great treatise, Human Action, is truly the economics bible for all peoples. It needs to be read and understood by all who seek the answers to the terrible problems that beset our troubled world and stand in the way of universal peach and prosperity. In writing and carefully editing every page of Human Action, Mises chose his terms and expressions with scientific accuracy and scholarly precision. He thus used many words and foreign phrases with which many readers may be unfamiliar, particularly in the exact sense that Mises had in mind. The purpose of this Glossary is to define, explain, interpret and translate all the book’s difficult terms and foreign phrases into simple English words which will permit Human Action readers to grasp all the fine, but important, points that Mises was trying to make in his won scholarly way. The use of this Glossary should make it easier for Human Action readers to understand not only the irrefutable logic of Mises, but also the significance of his contributions for all mankind. This Glossary includes all the complex terms in Human Action except those that Mises himself explained in the text when using them. The definitions and explanations have, for the most part, had the benefit of Mises’ criticisms and suggestions. However, he did not see them all in their final form. Accordingly, the responsibility for their accuracy and reflection of his precise meaning remains that of the Glossary’s author. This Glossary not only presents many of Mises’ concepts in both a readable and convenient form, but it is also an economics text in its own right. It presents in succinct form, with further references to Mises’ other English writings, the answers to many of the popular economic fallacies of our times. It is thus hoped that present and future thought leaders will be able to grasp without difficulty the significance of Mises’ great contributions which must become more widely accepted, if our civilization is to be saved form the chaos into which it is now racing at an ever greater speed.
• Omnipotent Government: The rise of the total state and total war
By: Ludwig von Mises
Marks
• 1969
• Hardback book
• Book in Great Condition, but paper cover is slightly faded, and tattered around edges
In this age of rising totalitarianism and bureaucratic management of economic affairs, Ludwig von Mises has been one of the great champions of freedom, both political and economic. As early as 1912, Dr. von Mises predicted the postwar German inflation. His explanation of economic depressions, known all over the world as the Austrian theory of the business cycle, was verified by the collapse of 1929. In this book the author provides an economic explanation of the international conflicts that caused both World Wars. He shows that economic nationalism and the trend toward economic self-sufficiency are the necessary outcome of government intervention in the private enterprises of its citizens. Free government at home and peaceful collaboration abroad are impossible in a world of trade barriers and domestic practices that benefit one group at the expense of everyone else. Only in a world that is really free for trade as well as for ideas can freedom survive. Professor von Mises supports his analysis with a review of the events that gave rise to Nazism and prevented Germany and the rest of the world from stopping it. But the book goes much further: it may stand as the most momentous and challenging criticism yet made of social and economic doctrines that now threaten freedom everywhere.