The Libertarian Reader [Paperback]

Tibor R. Machan (Editor)

Product Details

• Paperback: 287 pages
• Publisher: Rowman and Littlefield; 1st edition (1982)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0847670627
• ISBN-13: 978-0847670628
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 5.9 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,656,439 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Libertarianism 101, November 30, 2002

By 

Steve Jackson "stevejackson100atyahoocom" (New England) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Libertarian Reader (Hardcover)

Tibor Machan edited this outstanding collection of writings, which came to print in 1982. It was one of my first introductions to libertarian thought and it remains immensely valuable. The writers are all twentieth century thinkers. All the big names in contemporary libertarianism (with the exception of Ayn Rand) are present: Rothbard, von Mises, Hayek, Friedman, Nozick and Hospers. While Rand herself isn't included, there are essays by semi-Randians. (I'm sure Prof. Machan would have included an essay by Rand if he had been able to get permission.) The one gap in this book is the complete exclusion on any discussion of libertarian foreign policy (non-interventionism).

A couple essays stand out. First, there is Rothbard's "Society without State." Rothbard was an anarcho-capitalist. If you think anarchy is unworkable, read this essay. There is also John Hosper's "Libertarianism and Legal Paternalism," a discussion of the limits of libertarianism when applied to children and other thorny issues. It garnered a fair amount of attention when it originally came out.

No doubt there has been important work done in libertarian thought since 1982, but this is still a great place to start if you want to get the basics of libertarianism. I haven't read David Boas' collection of the same name, but based on the index it covers writings from a much broader time span (starting with the Bible), so they would complement each other quite well.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An excellent reader, December 27, 1999

By 

Michael "MG" Gilson "MG" (St Petersburg, FL USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Libertarian Reader (Hardcover)

This book was for many years the first and only reader on a variety of Libertarian ideas. The colorful Hungarian American Philosopher Machan understands precisely what questions intelligent people have when confronted with Libertarian concepts as he has spent quite a lot of effort thinking about them from several angles and trying to subvert them from many different perspectives. His sure hand selects a strong array of essays that display the range of Libertarian concerns.