{"product_id":"2940016145402","title":"The Nature of Man and His Government (LFB)","description":"There's probably no sense in trying to highlight the quotable and brilliant passages in this small manifesto by Robert LeFevre (1911-1986). Nearly every sentence so qualifies. The clarity of the prose and the penetrating analysis he provides of all the essential questions of our time is absolutely overwhelming.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe Nature of Man and His Government is a surprisingly brilliant manifesto, first published in 1959. You can fight your way through whole libraries and millions of Internet links and not find this much wisdom provided in this much space. This is the kind of book that makes you wonder why the author is not better known, why he is not very frequently mentioned in the canon of libertarian thinkers. We can hope that this edition of his best book will begin to change that.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLeFevre's primary goal was to get at the truth. He approached the quest methodically, not as a preacher, but as a thinker. He sought to find answers to the fundamental questions. What makes man different from other animals? Why does man create government, and for what purpose? Does government actually achieve that purpose? What is the effect of government on man's capacity to realize his unique genius?\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLeFevre concluded that, while laws are necessary social conventions, government is not. The way he arrives at that conclusion is, perhaps, different from any you have read. He doesn't announce it in the form of an ideology but rather arrives at it through the sheer power of strings of logic and evidence. It is also notable to consider the time in which he was writing. This was the late 1950s, at the height of the Cold War, a time when both the Left and the Right were convinced that all that stood between us and total disaster was the national security and welfare states. LeFevre concluded that both amount to machines of warfare against the individual.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eWas LeFevre an influential figure? Absolutely. This edition reprints Rose Wilder Lane's fantastic introduction. She thought highly of him. The Freedom School he founded brought in lecturers like Frank Chodorov and Ludwig von Mises. The tapes he made of his lecturers were as widely distributed as any in his day. His influence stretched far and wide. He was an evangelist for freedom who appealed not to emotion or the tribal political instinct but exclusively to the willingness of people to follow careful thinking to its logical conclusion.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eRobert LeFevre might have been the 20th century's greatest communicator of the libertarian idea. But he was more than just a communicator. He was also an ideological creator and visionary. You will see this quickly in this book. His ideas are still fresh and still carry explanatory power. He states them so effortlessly and calmly that it can be tricky to discern what his innovation is and to what extent he is restating the ideas of others. But the fact is that he was the most consistent, daring, and creative \"voluntaryist\" of his generation, coming to and advancing these ideas a half-century before they became widely popular. Even on matters of \"intellectual property,\" he was far ahead of even the best libertarian thinkers of his day.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLeFevre never sought much credit for what he did. He completely rejected the idea of personality cults, with himself or anyone as their object. Above all else, he believed in ideas. He believed they are immortal. This book shows that he was right. Because he wrote it, he can continue to teach after his death just as he did in his life. This book invites you to spend time with the great teacher. \u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eRose Wilder Lane warns the reader, \"The value of this little book is its contribution and its stimulus to true revolutionary thinking. I think you have not read its like before. If it jolts you, that's good; these are the times when minds need waking up. Let nothing keep you from it any longer.\"\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eTo search for titles from Laissez Faire Books, enter a keyword and LFB; e.g., Economics LFB","brand":"Laissez Faire Books","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47081203335408,"sku":"2940016145402","price":9.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/2940016145402_p0.jpg?v=1763629753","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940016145402","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}