Liberty and the Great Libertarians

Liberty and the Great Libertarians PDF Author: Charles T. Sprading
Publisher: Arno Press
ISBN:
Category : Libertarianism
Languages : en
Pages : 550

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Liberty and the Great Libertarians

Liberty and the Great Libertarians PDF Author: Charles T. Sprading
Publisher: Ludwig von Mises Institute
ISBN: 1610161076
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 545

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In 1913, Charles T. Sprading (1871-1959) wrote a book of remarkable prescience that anticipated the systematic development of an American libertarian tradition. He called it Liberty and the Great Libertarians. What he provided was a biography and intellectual analysis of some thirty great thinkers. Most valuable is his extraordinary job of editing. He chooses the best and most enlightening of their writings and brings them to life. The thinkers covered include Edmund Burke, Thomas Paine, Thomas Jefferson, William Godwin, Wilhelm von Humboldt, John Stuart Mill, Ralph Waldo Emerson, William Lloyd Garrison, Wendell Phillips, Josiah Warren, Max Stirner, Henry D. Thoreau, Herbert Spencer, Lysander Spooner, Henry George, Benjamin Tucker, Pierre Kropotkin, Abraham Lincoln, Auberon Herbert, G. Bernard Shaw, Oscar Wilde, Maria Montessori, and others. Now, not all of these people would be considered libertarians by the modern understanding. Some even called themselves socialists, as absurd as that may sound to us today. But they all exhibited in their writings a deep and abiding attachment to the idea of human liberty. They agree in the primacy of the individual. They agreed that the greatest threat to individual rights is the state. And they believed in fighting for these rights. They believed in the freedom of assembly, freedom of press, freedom of religion, freedom to think and act. They hated war and social control. They rejected every form of authoritarianism, and, in all these areas, they made huge contributions. As Sprading says in his introduction: The greatest violator of the principle of equal liberty is the State. Its functions are to control, to rule, to dictate, to regulate, and in exercising these functions it interferes with and injures individuals who have done no wrong. The objection to government is, not that it controls those who invade the liberty of others, but that it controls the non-invader. It may be necessary to govern one who will not govern himself, but that in no wise justifies governing one who is capable of and willing to govern himself. To argue that because some need restraint all must be restrained is neither consistent nor logical. Governments cannot accept liberty as their fundamental basis for justice, because governments rest upon authority and not upon liberty. To accept liberty as the fundamental basis is to discard authority; that is, to discard government itself; as this would mean the dethronement of the leaders of government, we can expect only those who have no economic compromises to make, to accept equal liberty as the basis of justice. The introduction alone is extraordinary, given the times. On war he writes: "How is war to be abolished? By going to war? Is bloodshed to be stopped by the shedding of blood? No; the way to stop war is to stop going to war; stop supporting it and it will fall, just as slavery did, just as the Inquisition did. The end of war is in sight; there will be no more world wars. The laboring-man, who has always done the fighting, is losing his patriotism; he is beginning to realize that he has no country or much of anything else to fight for, and is beginning to decline the honor of being killed for the glory and profits of the few. Those who profit by war, those who own the country, will not fight for it; that is, they are not patriotic if it is necessary for them to do the killing or to be killed in war. In all the wars of history there are very few instances of the rich meeting their death on the battlefield." This is a fat book, 542 pages, with a vast index. It remains the best chronicle of libertarian thought ever put together, which is why Murray Rothbard chose this book as one of his favorites. This edition is a reprint of the original 1913 volume.

Liberty and the Great Libertarians

Liberty and the Great Libertarians PDF Author: Charles T. Sprading
Publisher: Arno Press
ISBN:
Category : Libertarianism
Languages : en
Pages : 550

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Book Description


Liberty and the Great Libertarians

Liberty and the Great Libertarians PDF Author: Charles T. Sprading
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Libertarianism
Languages : en
Pages : 540

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I Chose Liberty: Autobiographies of Contemporary Libertarians

I Chose Liberty: Autobiographies of Contemporary Libertarians PDF Author:
Publisher: Ludwig von Mises Institute
ISBN: 1610162706
Category : Libertarianism
Languages : en
Pages : 446

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For a New Liberty: The Libertarian Manifesto

For a New Liberty: The Libertarian Manifesto PDF Author: Murray Newton Rothbard
Publisher: Ludwig von Mises Institute
ISBN: 1610164482
Category : Free enterprise
Languages : en
Pages : 433

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Liberty and the Great Libertarians

Liberty and the Great Libertarians PDF Author: Charles Sprading
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781493525034
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 546

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LARGE PRINT EDITION! More at LargePrintLiberty.com. This collection offers choice selections from many of the greatest authors on liberty. They cover a wide range of issues from art, education and marriage to money, slavery, taxes, war and equal rights for women. The selections are a roll call of 43 important libertarians from the past two centuries, mostly English and American, including Edmund Burke (before the French Revolution), Ralph Waldo Emerson, William Lloyd Garrison, William Godwin, Emma Goldman, Auberon Herbert, Wilhelm von Humboldt, Henrik Ibsen, Thomas Jefferson, Pierre A. Kropotkin, John Stuart Mill, Maria Montessori, Thomas Paine, Wendell Phillips, Herbert Spencer, Lysander Spooner, Max Stirner, Henry D. Thoreau, Leo N. Tolstoy, Benjamin R. Tucker and Josiah Warren. There are also worthwhile selections from authors like Abraham Lincoln and George Bernard Shaw who turned against liberty generally. Each selection is accompanied by a fine summary of the author's life and achievements. In addition, the book offers inspiring poems as well as quotations on liberty by many more authors.

Liberty and the great libertarians

Liberty and the great libertarians PDF Author: Charles T. Sprading
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Liberty
Languages : en
Pages : 540

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Liberty and the Great Libertarians

Liberty and the Great Libertarians PDF Author: Charles T. Sprading
Publisher: Forgotten Books
ISBN: 9780331896848
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 544

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Excerpt from Liberty and the Great Libertarians: An Anthology on Liberty, a Hand-Book of Freedom There is an admirable Free Press Anthology, by Theodore Schroeder, but this is the only anthology on the general subject of liberty known to its compiler, who has made a very close study of libertarian literature. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

The Ethics of Liberty

The Ethics of Liberty PDF Author: Murray N. Rothbard
Publisher: NYU Press
ISBN: 1479893382
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 359

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Book Description
The authoritative text on the libertarian political position In recent years, libertarian impulses have increasingly influenced national and economic debates, from welfare reform to efforts to curtail affirmative action. Murray N. Rothbard's classic The Ethics of Liberty stands as one of the most rigorous and philosophically sophisticated expositions of the libertarian political position. Rothbard’s unique argument roots the case for freedom in the concept of natural rights and applies it to a host of practical problems. And while his conclusions are radical—that a social order that strictly adheres to the rights of private property must exclude the institutionalized violence inherent in the state—Rothbard’s applications of libertarian principles prove surprisingly practical for a host of social dilemmas, solutions to which have eluded alternative traditions. The Ethics of Liberty authoritatively established the anarcho-capitalist economic system as the most viable and the only principled option for a social order based on freedom. This classic book’s radical insights are sure to inspire a new generation of readers.

Libertarianism Today

Libertarianism Today PDF Author: Jacob H. Huebert
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
ISBN:
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 355

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Book Description
This engagingly written introduction examines modern libertarianism and its answers to today's most pressing issues—the economy, war, health care, and more. As government grows by leaps and bounds, libertarianism is receiving more attention than ever. Written from a contemporary perspective by an attorney and law professor who is also an award-winning journalist, Libertarianism Today provides an engaging introduction to the movement's ideas and people, serving as a jumping-off point for readers who want to know more. Beginning with the general libertarian principle that one person cannot initiate force against another, even if that person is part of the government, the book examines the implications of this principle for a wide range of contemporary issues: war, health care, personal liberties, economic policy, monetary policy, and intellectual property rights. It introduces the people behind the libertarian movement and explores the strategies—including education, activism, and litigation—libertarians are pursuing to advance their ideas. By laying out the current state of the movement, author J. H. Huebert shows how, even as it gets more mainstream-media exposure than ever, today's libertarian movement has only become more radically opposed to the Washington DC status quo.