Egalitarianism as a Revolt Against Nature, and Other Essays

All evidence points to the superiority of the libertarian ideal—private property, capitalism, international trade, laissez-faire—but something is keeping the world from embracing it. That something is wrong-headed ideology, some philosophical error grown into a massive system of thought, an agenda that if unleashed would mutilate and crush civilization as we know it.

Murray Rothbard had a nose for such error. And when he smelled it, he wrote it up, exposed its underside, refuted its logic, and obliterated its intellectual foundation. That's why he was so hated—and so loved. He is so relentless that it makes the reader squirm. But he also teaches and inspires.

Consider, for example, "anarcho-socialism." Here is an ideology that hates the state. Fine so far. Problem: it is an ideology that hates private property even more. In fact, these people believe that the state is the only reason private property exists.

With all the political books out there, each with a partisan spin, it's wonderful to read a thinker who doesn't fear exposing the errors of left and right, measuring anyone and everyone against the great benchmark of the idea of liberty.

The sixteen essays included in this volume are:

Egalitarianism as a Revolt Against Nature
Left and Right: The Prospects for Liberty
The Anatomy of the State
Justice and Property Rights
War, Peace, and the State
The Fallacy of the Public Sector
Kid Lib
The Great Women's Liberation Issue: Setting it Straight
Conservation in the Free Market
The Meaning of Revolution
National Liberation
Anarcho-Communism
The Spooner-Tucker Doctrine: An Economist's View
Ludwig von Mises and the Paradigm for Our Age
Why Be Libertarian?
Freedom, Inequality, Primitivism, and the Division of Labor