22 of 22 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A book worthy of the man, October 10, 2007
This review is from: Mises: The Last Knight of Liberalism (Hardcover)
Great lives make great biographies. If only this were always true. One problem is that many biographies, including very long books, are written about the mediocre, or even the boring (think of politicians). Another problem is that so often a hash is made of the effort to explain an interesting life. I am happy to report that Mises: The Last Knight of Liberalism by Jörg Guido Hülsmann is a great biography of a great life. More precisely, this book tells the story of the great ideas, generated by a great mind, in the context of the life of a very good man, Ludwig von Mises.
To write about this book one must consider readers as two kinds of people; those who have read Human Action and those who have not. For those who have read Mises' magnum opus, Last Knight will hold a special place in their libraries, probably on the shelf next to Human Action. To have read Human Action implies that a person is aware of and understands Austrian economics. Furthermore, the normal response to this effort (it must be admitted that it is not an easy read) is a paradigm shift in thought, if not life. Certainly all aspects of economics and politics are then understood in a fresh light; such that events of the day that were once an incomprehensible blur come into sharp focus, and the myths and lies of the ruling class become as obvious as Pinocchio's nose, or more aptly, the emperor's new clothes. For these people Last Knight quenches the thirst for knowledge about the man, his personality, life, and times. It is also a wonderful history of ideas, depicting the paths to (Menger and Böhm-Bawerk) and from (Hayek and Rothbard) Human Action. I have already seen that this can be a controversial exercise among those who claim to be Austrian economists but well worth the effort. The milieu of teachers, colleagues, and students around Mises, especially in old Vienna (before WWI) and contemporary New York (50s and 60s) are fascinating. Mises really was a man of Vienna, and then late in life, of New York. Readers who already are part of the Austrian school will dream of attending the Mises seminars evoked by Hülsmann. Mises the person is an inspiration through his moral and physical courage, and his persistent and overriding quest for truth. But it must also be admitted that he was a bit of an odd fellow. Mises relationships as husband, son, bother, teacher, friend, colleague, and occasional adversary are interesting to those of us who care so much about his work.
For those who have not read Human Action, Last Knight makes a great primer for the ideas that comprise Austrian economics. All of the key ideas are discussed in a very approachable way that modern readers can readily grasp.
Of course for many a 1000 page primer might be as daunting as the original, but I can attest that it is very readable; I could not put it down. I should say, I had to put it down occasionally to rest my arms because it is a physically big book. However, the production values are excellent (I especially appreciated the attached cloth book mark) making it easy on the eyes, and at a very reasonable price, easy on the wallet. The history of writing and publishing the book is also of interest. The efforts of the publisher, the Ludwig von Mises Institute, are part of the continuing story of Mises' ideas. The saga of Mises' papers alone, Vienna, Berlin, to Moscow, tells much about the history of ideas in the 20th century.
Even the most positive book review must include some criticism. In this case my only quibble is that the book is too short. I still want to know more about Mises the man, his times, and his ideas. I hope to read more from Dr. Hülsmann in the future.
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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A great and very readable work, November 3, 2007
This review is from: Mises: The Last Knight of Liberalism (Hardcover)
Reading this book was a pleasure. It is not just that this book is extremely readable, it is also a great work in the history of ideas and as a biography very fitting to the greatest mind of the social sciences, Ludwig von Mises. Maybe that's what makes reading it so exciting: that you come to realize just how much Mises contributed to economics and the social sciences, and with what courage and integrity he did it (in light of the hostile intellectual climate he faced in both Europe and the US).
In addition, I benefited from Hülsmann's discussion of the differences in marginal value theory between the competing schools and of his discussion of Mises's neglected masterpiece Theory and History. Throughout the book, such theoretically heavy topics are explained with remarkable lightness by professor Hülsmann.
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26 of 32 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
On the Trouble of Balancing History and Ideas...., November 7, 2007
This review is from: Mises: The Last Knight of Liberalism (Hardcover)
I have always approached biographies of thinkers I admire with a certain enthusiasm based more on anticipation than on expected insight. In other words, I don't read biographies because I want to learn something new; I read them to confirm what I already know. The thrill for me comes in the form of anticipating in what direction the story is going to take. Will it be a biography of the social milieu in which that particular thinker matured, or will it be concerned more with the development of the thinker's intellectual thought? Ideally, a biography should cover both, and Hulsmann's book does just that, but (I would argue) with little success.
The book is an easy read, and enjoyable at times, but I feel that Hulsmann's quest for the discovery of the historical background of Mises' life overshadows the importance of his contribution to intellectual thought. Most of the book contains discussions of historical events like the two wars, the socialist experiment in Austria, inflation, etc. The mind of Mises is discussed only in connection to these events. It is difficult to fully appreciate the originality of Mises' arguments when the focus is clearly centered on concrete historical events. One has to hammer through hundreds of pages of historical content to reach the ideas Mises developed and presented throughout his career. And when I did finally reach that point, I often left with a feeling of disappointment. Hulsmann's treatment of Mises' work on Money, Socialism, and Human Action is for the most part unsatisfactory. I would say that the most enlightening and entertaining chapter would be "Nation, State, and Economy" ---- something that I certainly wasn't expecting.
Now the thoroughness of Hulsmann's research is evident on every page of this book. My dissatisfaction is a product of my own bias. It is my belief that biographies of intellectuals should be written as "intellectual biographies." Bruce Caldwell's Hayek's Challenge is a good example of this. With that said, I would still encourage people interested in Mises to read this book. But I don't think the book is as great as the other reviewers make it out to be. I would wager that Jeffrey Tucker and Mark Thornton prepared these written reviews even before reading the book! Their bias convinced them that this book is one for the ages, while my bias persuaded me to suspect that in 20 years this book will be forgotten.
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