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PERMANENT LINK | JANUARY 14, 2009

EconLog Book Club on For a New Liberty?

Bryan Caplan

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Tyler's been having fun with his MR Book Club on Keynes' General Theory:

I will go through the book, chapter by chapter, with an eye toward a
deeper understanding of what Keynes wrote and why it is, as Greg says,
so important.

Query: Is there any interest in having an EconLog Book Club on Murray Rothbard's For a New Liberty? I've got a lot of history with this book, which is now available online. I read it about ten times between the years of 1989 and 1994, and it had a tremendous influence on my thinking. But I haven't read it for fifteen years. Now I'm curious to revisit it and see how well it holds up.

Even if you find the anarcho-capitalist substance of the book noxious, it's hard not to admire the style. For a New Liberty is ridiculously well-written, so whatever you conclude, you'll enjoy the book club experience. Who's in?

P.S. Glad to see there's so much interest. I suggest we start discussing Chapter 1, "The Libertarian Heritage: The American Revolution and Classical Liberalism" on January 20.

P.P.S. Make sure you're reading the 1978 edition (that's the one that's online). For extra credit at the end, we can also talk about the original 1973 edition.

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CATEGORIES: Book Club , Books: Reviews and Suggested Readings
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COMMENTS (32 to date)

Latest Comment

David R. Henderson writes:

I'm in. Haven't read it in 20 years. Lost my copy in my Feb. 2007 fire but will get another one.

Posted January 14, 2009 1:20 PM

Adam writes:

I'm in for the discussion; I can do that with Rothbard where I could not do that with Keynes (General Theory is just...impenetrable)

Posted January 14, 2009 1:28 PM

Craig T. Nelson writes:

Very interested. I've not read it, only listened to it on my ipod while commuting.

Posted January 14, 2009 1:33 PM

scott clark writes:

I'm in, for what it's worth.

Posted January 14, 2009 1:38 PM

The Drunken Priest writes:

Never read it. I'm in.

Posted January 14, 2009 1:39 PM

Blackadder writes:

Sounds good to me. There's also an audio version of For a New Liberty on the Mises.org website for those (like me) who do a lot of their reading with audio books).

Posted January 14, 2009 1:42 PM

William writes:

Count me in, too.

Posted January 14, 2009 1:50 PM

JMH writes:

I would say that book is more responsible for me being where I am now than any other. I wanted to be a patent attorney and I read that and I then read Kinsella's monograph on intellectual property (never would have read Kinsella w/o Rothbard).

Posted January 14, 2009 1:57 PM

Carl Oberg writes:

I'm in as well.

Posted January 14, 2009 1:58 PM

Hume writes:

I think that is a great idea.

Posted January 14, 2009 2:00 PM

cvd writes:

Sounds good to me

Posted January 14, 2009 2:07 PM

Jarrett writes:

I'd be in for sure. Great motivation to keep up with reading, and I feel so much more understanding could be gleaned from discussion.

Posted January 14, 2009 2:11 PM

Julian Fondren writes:

A great feature of the audiobook is that you're still talking about your objection to some point of Rothbard's as this very objection is raised and then answered.

Posted January 14, 2009 2:13 PM

Michael Kolczynski writes:

I'm in, when do we start?

Posted January 14, 2009 2:25 PM

HispanicPundit writes:

I'm in!

Posted January 14, 2009 2:29 PM

libfree writes:

I'm game.

Posted January 14, 2009 2:39 PM

Gu Si Fang writes:

Yes please!

Posted January 14, 2009 2:56 PM

Jim Chappelow writes:

Let's do it!

Posted January 14, 2009 2:59 PM

Willem writes:

I'm in!

Posted January 14, 2009 3:28 PM

Debit writes:

I enjoyed The Ethics of Liberty better, but I am definitely in. Thank you!

Posted January 14, 2009 4:40 PM

ian dunois writes:

I'm IN!

Posted January 14, 2009 5:05 PM

wintercow20 writes:

great idea Bryan. I actually use his formulation of property rights from this book to teach in my Principles class - and mention the scary problems with strong utilitarian ethics he identifies. I found the first half of the book far more useful than the last - probably because you can't talk about the latter without the former.

Anyhow, I am in too.

Posted January 14, 2009 5:11 PM

The Cupboard Is Bare writes:

I think it's a wonderful idea and am quite appreciative of the fact that you're doing this.

Thanks.

Posted January 14, 2009 6:32 PM

Unit writes:

Posted January 14, 2009 7:58 PM

Grant writes:

...am I the only one who'd rather do Hayek? Even when he's right, Rothbard always seems like a nutcase to me.

Oh well, guess I'm in anyways.

Posted January 14, 2009 8:20 PM

Jeremy, Alabama writes:

As a Serfdom lover looking for new horizons, I'm interested.

Posted January 14, 2009 9:56 PM

Robbie Clarken writes:

I've only listened to the audiobook version so I'll enjoy revisiting For a New Liberty with a more critical eye.

Posted January 15, 2009 12:09 AM

Tim writes:

Fantastic!

Posted January 15, 2009 12:55 AM

Stewart writes:

I am in.

Posted January 15, 2009 2:42 AM

Mr. Karla writes:

Very good idea, imho Rothbard-philosopher at his best.

Posted January 15, 2009 10:43 AM

Jacob Miller writes:

Great idea.

Posted January 15, 2009 9:44 PM

Arare Litus writes:

I am taking your "Purity Test" prior to reading and discussion, and will retake the test post experience to see if there is a measurable change in my views:

http://www.bcaplan.com/cgi-bin/purity.cgi

Posted January 18, 2009 12:52 AM

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