Lever Action: Essays on Liberty (Paperback)

~ L. Neil Smith (Author) "Over the past 20 years, I've produced two dozen books upholding not just the concept, but the practice, of individual liberty..." (more)
Key Phrases: victim disarmament, most stringent enforcement, unalienable individual, Bill of Rights, Second Amendment, Bill Clinton (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review

"L. Neil Smith is one of my 'philosophical fathers,' in the company of Bastiat, Jefferson, and Rand." -- Boston T. Party

"Neil Smith is hard core, and he takes no prisoners. I love his stuff." -- Doug Casey

"[Smith's] wit, vision, and principle are a much-needed glass of icewater to the face of a sleepy populace." -- Peter Stephenson

Product Description

Non-Government Warning: L. Neil Smith’s vision of Liberty is highly contagious and incurable. Exposure to his ideas will change your life.

Renowned science fiction author L. Neil Smith (The Probability Broach, Pallas, The Crystal Empire, Henry Martyn, Forge Of The Elders, Hope) has been inspiring, delighting, and motivating Western Libertarian audiences for 25 years with his iconoclastic letters, essays, and downright rants. Now for the first time, the best of Neil's non-fiction writing on gun rights, Libertarian and Republicrat politics, the sorry socialist state of modern science fiction — even his legendary essay "Why I Hate Breakfast" — are gathered together in a single volume.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 456 pages
• Publisher: Mountain Media (April 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0967025915
• ISBN-13: 978-0967025919
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.5 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #544,777 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

22 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Table of Contents, November 7, 2002

By	Dr. van der Linden (Williamstown, NJ) - See all my reviews

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For the sake of providing needed information on this collection of L. Neil Smith's essays, the following table of contents is drawn from his Web site (specifically from page http://www.lneilsmith.com/leveractionmore.html):

AUTHOR'S NOTE: My Purloined Letters

INTRODUCTION: My Willingness to be Drafted to Run for President

Section I: LIBERTARIAN PHILOSOPHY

1. The LP's First Priority
2. The Atlanta Declaration
3. Bill of Wrongs
4. A New Approach to Social Darwinism
5. The Tyranny of Democracy (Majoritarianism Versus Unanimous Consent)
6. Shop Now and Avoid the Rush

Section II: LIBERTARIAN POLITICS

7. Lever Action -- Accept No Substitutes
8. Hillary Behind Bars
9. Libertarian Second Amendment Caucus Statement of Principles
10. Libertarian Second Amendment Caucus General Resolution
11. The Twenty-Ninth Amendment
12. Tea in a Whole New Bag
13. My Three Tax Programs
14. My China Policy
15. Operation Safe Streets
16. A Desperate Suspension of Disbelief
17. A Lesson in Practical Politics
18. The Return of the Creature
19. Rally Me Not on the Lone Prairie
20. Tactical Reflections

Section III: THE SECOND AMENDMENT

21. Suppose You Were Fond of Books ...
22. Ban a Gun -- Go to Jail
23. The Atrocity Engineers
24. What About England?
25. Nipponese, Ted!
26. Twelve Tips for Safer Schools
27. Kids and Guns at School
28. Murder by Gun Control
29. Armies of Chaos
30. On Concealed Carry and the NRA
31. Screen, Scran, Screwn
32. We Don't Need No Stinkin' Bodges
33. Am I the NRA?
34. How Much Do You Want to Keep Your Guns?
35. Clinton's Crimes Are Hitler's Crimes
36. Diana DeGette Wants You Dead
37. Whodunit? Wellington Webb!
38. Listen to the Women
39. Taking the Mag Pledge
40. Smith & Wesson Must Die
41. Right-Wing Socialism
42. Why Did It Have to Be Guns?
43. A Conspiracy Theory -- Sort Of

Section IV: REPUBLICRAT POLITICS

44. Prometheus Bound -- and Gagged
45. "Do It to Julia"
46. Feeding the Ducks
47. A Revolutionary Proposal
48. Advice to Flat Taxers: Go Jump Off the Edge
49. Bill Clinton's Reichstag Fire
50. Rumplestiltsclinton
51. No, No, Kosovo! No, No, Kosovo!
52. A Note to My Political Allies
53. Security
54. Stars and Bars
55. It's the Stupidity, Stupid!
56. A Tale of Two Hoovers

Section V: A RANT FOR ALL SEASONS

57. An Ant for All Seasons (formerly "Of Ants and Men")
58. The American Lenin
59. When They Came for the Smokers ...
60. Antismokers: Get a Life!
61. The Smoking Goons
62. The Lies of Texas
63. Weird Science
64. When You Wish Upon a Star ...
65. Big Brother is Watching You -- Again
66. I Hate Breakfast
67. Some Not-Quite-Random Thoughts on Americans and Their Cars
68. Sex, Drugs, and Voter Registration
69. The Most Thoroughly "Sanitized" City in America
70. Patching the Patches
71. Scalping Elmo
72. A Culture of Harmlessness
73. The Spider at the Center of the Web

Section VI: SCIENCE FICTION AND LESSER MEDIA

74. On a Clear Day You Can See Bulgaria -- But Who Wants to Look?
75. Merchants of Fear
76. The Manchurian Lobbyist
77. Getting Back at TV Propagandists
78. The Medium is a Massage
79. Parallax
80. I'll Show You Mine If You'll Show Me Yours -- A Challenge to the Canadian Mass Media
81. Robert Heinlein Remembered
82. Don Henley's Revenge (An Open Letter to America's Old Media)
83. Who's the Wacko?
84. A Maple-Leaf Rag
85. Stop the Nagging
86. Unanimous Consent and the Utopian Vision

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"Why Did It Have to Be Guns" is one of the best brief arguments for why the advocates of any sort of "gun control" are not only intellectually bankrupt but also morally corrupt beyond redemption, and how each "gun control" politician must be immediately and unequivocally identified as your own personal mortal enemy, no matter what your political, ethnic, religious, or other demographic characteristics might be. As a whole, this collection is well worth its price, and should be in the hands of any honest, decent, humane person who can read the English language.

13 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars And the Truth Will Set You Free, January 12, 2003

By	"ssandfort" (Republic of Panama) - See all my reviews

I've read and enjoyed most of L. Neil Smith's science fiction novels. I checked out his essays and other non-fiction works almost as an afterthought. I liked them. So when I saw LEVER ACTION, I jumped on it.

Guess what? I liked it too. Of course, the issues that are addressed in Smith's science fiction by allegory, implication and exposition-an optimistic, freedom-seeking, pro-gun, science fiction worldview-are addressed directly in this collection of essays and speeches.

I especially enjoyed reading the Introduction in which Smith tells us how he came by the principles in which he believes. My favorite essay is a very short one. On page 226, Smith asks the rhetorical question, "How Much Do You Want to Keep Your Guns?" He then answers his own question in an economical yet impassioned couple of hundred words. It is as beautiful a plea for mutual tolerance and personal freedom as you will ever read anywhere. Read it aloud to get the full effect. Read it aloud to your family and friends. Heck, read it aloud to someone you don't like. It might make a difference.

I have only one minor nit to pick. Because LEVER ACTION is a compilation of previous independently published writings and delivered speeches, there is some repetition. Of course, some things bear repeating.

11 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Lever Action should have been titled "Full Auto", March 6, 2003

By	Mike Ruff (Greenville, NC) - See all my reviews

L. Neil Smith has gathered a no-holds-barred collection of his finest political essays in this book. I first found "el Neil" in "The Libertarian Enterprise" online. I have since read much of his fiction, and found it to be excellent. Please buy lots and lots of his books--give them as gifts, read them and stock them in every room in your house and in every vehicle. I want him to write more, and the sure way to convince him to do so is to pay him.