Chaining Down Leviathan: The American Dream of Self-Government, 1776–1865 by Luigi Marco Bassani Abbeville Institute Press, 2021 356 pp. Marco Bassani is a historian of European political thought and it is from the perspective of his discipline that he looks at the American political system that came to an end in 1865. As he sees matters, the
Economy, Society, and History by Hans-Hermann Hoppe Mises Institute, 2021 191 pp. In 2004, Hans Hoppe delivered a series of lectures at the Mises Institute about his theory of social evolution, and we are fortunate to have this volume, based on a transcript of those lectures, now available. As one would expect, the book contains much of interest,
Students often ask me to recommend a good introduction to philosophy, and now the question can be answered more easily than in years past. Michael Huemer’s Knowledge, Value, and Reality , published last April, contains a profusion of arguments on important topics and is written in a conversational style that is easy to follow, and is often very
After the Apocalypse: America’s Role in a World Transformed By Andrew Bacevich Metropolitan Books, 2021 Xiv + 206 pages Andrew Bacevich, a history professor at Boston University for twenty-three years, has written an excellent book on American foreign policy, but it is embedded within a larger and more questionable book. Fortunately, the merits
In my article last week, I talked about Michael Huemer’s notion of “false fallacies.” These are often listed in logic books as bad arguments, but some of them, Huemer suggests, are actually good arguments, at least if suitably modified. This week, I’d like to talk about another false fallacy, one that Huemer doesn’t include on his list. This is
Re-reading Economics in Literature: A Capitalist Critical Perspective by Matt Spivey Lanham, Maryland: Lexington Books, 2021, 133 pp. David Gordon (dgordon@mises.org) is a senior fellow at the Mises Institute and editor of the Journal of Libertarian Studies . Matt Spivey asks an important question. Literary critics often use economics to interpret
Radical Uncertainty: Decision-Making Beyond the Numbers John Kay and Mervyn King New York: Norton, 2020, xvi + 528 pp. David Gordon (dgordon@mises.org) is a senior fellow at the Mises Institute and editor of the Journal of Libertarian Studies . Kay and King are not Austrians, but in this important book, they lend aid and comfort to several key
The Essential Austrian Economics Christopher J. Coyne and Peter J. Boettke Vancouver: Fraser Institute, 2020, 68 pp. David Gordon (dgordon@mises.org) is a senior fellow at the Mises Institute and editor of the Journal of Libertarian Studies . Christopher Coyne and Peter Boettke, both professors of economics at George Mason University, say, “The
Julie Ponesse, a philosophy professor specializing in ethics who until recently taught at the University of Western Ontario in Canada, has a moving video in which she protests the requirement at her university that she get a covid-19 vaccination in order to continue teaching. She points out that it is her absolute right to decide what substances
Shakespeare’s Rome: Republic and Empire by Paul Cantor 1976; University of Chicago Press, 2017, 228 pp. Paul Cantor will probably be best known to readers of the Mises page for his pioneering use of Austrian economics in literary criticism, and many will also be aware of his brilliant studies of popular culture. (For the former topic, see my
What is the Mises Institute?
The Mises Institute is a non-profit organization that exists to promote teaching and research in the Austrian School of economics, individual freedom, honest history, and international peace, in the tradition of Ludwig von Mises and Murray N. Rothbard.
Non-political, non-partisan, and non-PC, we advocate a radical shift in the intellectual climate, away from statism and toward a private property order. We believe that our foundational ideas are of permanent value, and oppose all efforts at compromise, sellout, and amalgamation of these ideas with fashionable political, cultural, and social doctrines inimical to their spirit.