The War Over Iraq: Saddam’s Tyranny and America’s Mission by Lawrence F. Kaplan and William Kristol (Encounter Books, 2003, x + 153 pgs.) This book frightens me. The authors do not confine themselves to a justification of the American invasion of Iraq, which began shortly after their book was published. They offer a plan by which this war is but
A version of this review appears in the Winter issue of The Mises Review , the literary review publication of the Mises Institute archived here . Also, you can subscribe here . War Is a Force That Gives Us Meaning. By Chris Hedges. Anchor Books, 2002. 211 pgs. What Every Person Should Know About War. By Chris Hedges. Free Press, 2003. Xvi + 175
There are some great libertarian themes in Catch Me If You Can , the DVD of which was released earlier this month. Leonardo DiCaprio stars in the more-or-less true story of Frank Abagnale, Jr., a kid and master of deception who managed to work as a teacher, a physician, an attorney and prosecutor, and an airline pilot, all before his 18th
The drive to war, the threat of terrorism, the stock-price meltdown, the continuing recession, and the decline of liberty—all add up to a moment of grave insecurity in which government power thrives and grows. Underneath it all is widespread confusion about what happened to turn the prosperous and relatively peaceful 90s into the current madness,
Delivered at the 2003 Mises Institute Supporters Summit. There once was a time, not too long ago, that in order to have light, one had to rely on the sun or a burning flame to provide it. So too, there was once a time when, in order to read a text of anything, you had to have a physical copy in your hands. It had to be sent through the mail or
David Frum did not intend to write a send-up of the state. His goal was not to demystify the White House. But that is the effect of his chatty little book, The Right Man: The Surprise Presidency of George W. Bush (NY: Random House, 2002). It has very little substance, and no content of grave historical import. It mainly consists of goofy stories
I know no father who cares a whit about Father’s Day. We are pleased to be doted on by our families of course, but we have no longing to be “appreciated” for our special role in the world. Fathers consider what they do to be carrying out the normal duties and requirements of life itself, not some enormous sacrifice for others that periodically
Closely linked to the issue of gay marriage is the issue of gay adoption. The subject raises the stakes in the current national controversy, and, as usual, state intervention complicates the picture enormously. Below I argue for the validity of the political intuition of both the left (that gay couples shouldn’t be prohibited by law from adopting)
War and continued economic contraction underscore the reality that involvement in public affairs is crucial for the survival of liberty. As Mises wrote, “Economics must not be relegated to classrooms and statistical offices and must not be left to esoteric circles. It is the philosophy of human life and action and concerns everybody and
On Labor Day, Americans honor the often incredible contributions of its working men and women. But that honor is typically hijacked by unions who portray themselves as representing all American workers and claim that they are largely responsible for the gains workers have made. Those assertions are false. In fact, unions have harmed workers as a
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.