Rothbard traces the intellectual origins of libertarianism back to classical liberal philosophers John Locke and Adam Smith and the American Revolution. The work has been credited as an influence on modern libertarian thought and on part of the New Right. The Real Economy: What Hillary and Trump Can’t and Won’t Address. Never seen a better case for liberty. Rothbard poured a lifetime of research and all his intellectual energy into this project and he succeeded in writing a classic. Reviewed in the United States on August 29, 2013. "[2] Libertarian author David Boaz writes that For a New Liberty, together with Robert Nozick's Anarchy, State, and Utopia (1974) and Ayn Rand's essays on political philosophy, "defined the 'hard-core' version of modern libertarianism, which essentially restated Spencer's law of equal freedom: Individuals have the right to do whatever they want to do, so long as they respect the equal rights of others. As you can see, this is a radical and challenging book. The content of the book is good quality, would be 4/5 for the words themselves. "For a New Liberty" has it all - History, Politics, Economics, and Philosophy. Trimming and compromising for the sake of the times or the potential audience was just not his way. He is particularly good at highlighting who really benefits from government regulation: usually it is the largest corporations who are attempting to rig the game in their favor. Rothbard alone had the mastery in all fields that permitted him to write an integrated manifesto—one that has never been displaced. Find all the books, read about the author, and more. Here again, Rothbard draws his argument from American history. Trump's Economy: Boom Times or Dangerous Bubble? Rothbard relentlessly applies the very basic philosophy consistently to all areas of society. To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average. ), its operations and tendencies to work its evil (it never has enough power), and how intellectuals become co-opted by the forces of state power. Overall it's a good read, but get the paperback/kindle version instead. Paperback, This page was last edited on 12 June 2020, at 22:36. He shows that the state creates social and economic problems and then further intervenes to make these problems worse then ever while increasing its power at the expense of everyone else. If you want to comprehend the beating heart of today's liberty movement, as well as its place in the history of political thought for the last few hundred years *and* its possible future, read Murray Rothbard's "For a New Liberty. Democracy – The God That Failed: The Economics and Politics of Monarchy, Democracy and Natural Order (Perspectives on Democratic Practice), Against the State: An Anarcho-Capitalist Manifesto, Economics in One Lesson: The Shortest and Surest Way to Understand Basic Economics, The Road to Serfdom: Text and Documents--The Definitive Edition (The Collected Works of F. A. Hayek, Volume 2). Rothbard isn’t satisfied to make his case on this abstract level. The book is the result of the only contract Rothbard ever received from a mainstream commercial publisher. Once you are exposed to the complete picture—and For a New Liberty has been the leading means of exposure for more than a quarter of a century—you cannot forget it.