Before I begin my review, I must state in the interest of full disclosure: I am one of the (many) people that are thanked in the Acknowledgements of this book -- because I am a friend of the author Donald J. Boudreaux, and over the past few years, I have often chatted with Boudreaux about the content of his letters to the editor; some of which were ultimately compiled for this book -- although I had nothing whatsoever to do with the publishing of the book. I am recommending this wonderful book on its own merit; I truly believe that it is a gem. I greatly enjoyed reading it, and so will you!
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Donald J. Boudreaux is a professor at George Mason University: an economist and a lawyer, he was Chairman of the Economics Department at GMU for 8 years, and currently teaches in GMU's economics department and law school. He is a staunch advocate of individual liberty, limited government, free markets, and non-interventionist foreign policy. He frequently writes letters-to-the-editor in support of these principles, in opposition to newspaper articles/editorials that counter these principles, or display what he believes to be economic illiteracy. But newspaper editors are not the only targets of Boudreaux's pearls of wisdom: he will write a letter to anyone whom he encounters displaying economic illiteracy or advocating Big Government, whether it is a radio talk show host regurgitating talking points that have no basis in sound economics; a politician arguing for ever-more governmental power; or a blogger arguing that America is somehow economically harmed by importing cheap goods made in foreign countries.
He almost certainly has the world record for letters written to the editor -- he has written nearly 5,000 letters over the past decade! Of course, some of the letters he writes ultimately get printed in the newspapers.
This book is a selection of 100 of the letters he has written. (NOTE: Boudreaux sends all his daily letters to his large listserve; information on how to join the listserve is available in the book. He posts about half of his letters at the popular blog called Cafe Hayek, which he runs with his GMU colleague Russ Roberts).
In addition to being a brilliant economist, Boudreaux has two particularly great skills: Firstly that of Brevity, and secondly, what I like to call Easy Elucidation for Everyone. He has an incredible ability to impart a lesson on economics so that it is easily understandable to anyone, in a very concise manner: most of his letters are 200 words or less. That ability to explain a point so that even a person who has never studied economics can understand it easily, all in a letter than can be read in under 2 minutes, is a priceless gift.
I can personally attest to this: I have never studied economics formally, yet I have read and understood every letter Boudreaux has written over the past 6 years with the same ease that I understand the box score of a baseball game. I have more than held my own throughout numerous debates/discussions on important economic concepts with college-educated friends, ALMOST ENTIRELY DUE TO THE EDUCATION I RECEIVED FROM READING BOUDREAUX'S DAILY LETTERS!
This book is a great read whether or not you agree with Boudreaux's political views: if you do, then this book will give you great ammunition in support of your beliefs when you are arguing against those with different political beliefs. And if you do not share Don's opinion on some or all issues, this book will do a great job in challenging your views and seeing another side you may not have considered previously. Either way, this book will make you think about important issues in ways you never thought of before.
In addition to economic/fiscal issues, Boudreaux's letters address many other subjects, including: individual liberty, governmental regulation of private behavior, nanny statism, the war on drugs, the immoral hunger for power that drives so many politicians, and foreign policy.
The letters may make you laugh at idiotic comments uttered by radio hosts and callers; angry at the economic ignorance spewing from certain print outlets; or puzzled at how certain politicians ever got elected (and re-elected and re-elected and re-elected!)
Whether you follow politics closely or casually; whether you agree with all, some, or none of Boudreaux's views; and whether you've ever previously read any of Don's letters or will be reading them for the first time, this book will be a very enjoyable read.
The book was compiled in a very attractive format: Each letter is printed on one page; and on the facing page, there is an item that somehow relates to the letter: it may be a cartoon, a quote, or a few lines of bio regarding a famous person mentioned in the letter, or an easy-to-understand graph demonstrating eg. the fallacy of population control as a positive economic policy.
Everything is written clearly, concisely, and fact-driven, and where necessary, supported with appropriate statistics: there is absolutely none of the nonsensical straw-man arguments or cliche's that are sadly what passes for much of political discussion today -- whether in newspapers, on blogs, talk radio, or cable television -- on both sides of the political aisle.
For years, I've been recommending Boudreaux's letters to my personal friends, and they've all told me how much they love reading them; well, now that this wonderful book has been released, I enthusiastically recommend it to all of you, my Amazon friends ;-)
I am sure you will all find "HYPOCRITES AND HALF-WITS" interesting, informative, and fun, all at the same time!
