The Irrepressible Rothbard : The Rothbard-Rockwell Report Essays of Murray N. Rothbard (Hardcover)

~ Murray N. Rothbard (Author) "What I call the Old Right is suddenly back!..." (more)
Key Phrases: New York, World War, United States (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Summing up the work of libertarian economist and historian Murray N. Rothbard (1926-1995) and noting its stunning range, philosopher David Gordon once wondered "if there are really three, four, or five geniuses writing under his name." These lively essays display one of those geniuses: Rothbard the journalist, cultural critic, political observer, and movement organizer. Even more remarkable, they represent just a fraction of what he wrote in his spare time, for just one publication, and in just the last few years of his life.

His articles combined libertarian anti-government economics, decentralist local patriotism, anti-war isolation, and a reactionary cultural outlook that saw government as the key to the loss of the Old Republic. He defended land-rights groups against environmentalists, citizen militias against gun grabbers, isolationists against imperialists, paleoconservatives against neoconservatives, populists against party regulars, anti-New World Order conspiracy theorists against the establishment, nationalists against internationalists, states righters against libertarian centralists, the Christian right against its own leadership, and much more.

These essays show forth not only Rothbard's intellectual vigor, but the complete joy with which he embraced life, and how his extreme optimism made even the most severe setbacks tolerable. He experienced great disappointments and great successes, but through it all he was heroic, undaunted, and irrepressible. In this, as in everything else, Murray Rothbard is the model for those who long for liberty, and work for it.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 431 pages
• Publisher: Center for Libertarian Studies (May 15, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1883959020
• ISBN-13: 978-1883959029
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.2 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,009,091 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Paleo-right populism, August 17, 2000

By	Walter B. Conger (Arroyo Grande, CA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

In the last five years of his life, Murray N. Rothbard--anarchist, economist, activist, historian--co-edited the monthly Rothbard-Rockwell Report, which featured some of his best polemical writings. This book collects many of the greatest pieces. (As a charter subscriber to that now-defunct journal, I might have included a few extra articles in this book, but thenŠ)

At the time these articles were written, Rothbard had joined forces with a resurging populist paleo-right in his fight against the State, against war, and for free markets.(In decades past, he had built alliances with Stevenson Democrats, New Leftists, and the Libertarian Party, without ever changing his core political beliefs.) So the book is filled with attacks on Bush's war on Iraq, big-government "libertarians," Clintonian liberalism, and Newt Gingrich's still-born "Republican Revolution," all in Rothbard's curmudgeonly style. He is a joy to read.

This volume is a must for fans of Rothbard.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Typical Rothbard, April 18, 2003

By	Steve Jackson "stevejackson100atyahoocom" (New England) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)

As Ive said before, Murray Rothbard was a historian, cultural critic, economist and social theoretician, and political strategist. Until his death, Murray commented vigorously on the cultural affairs of the day in the Rothbard-Rockwell Report. These articles are collected in this outstanding work.

Actually, I use the phrase cultural affairs broadly since these articles concern history, political strategy, movie reviews and more. With Rotbard you dont get canned bromides like some other would-be deep thinkers, but an exciting and informed opinion on topic after topic. As just one example, consider the war against the Serbs. Leftists from all quarters (Hitchens, Lerner, etc.) couldnt wait to go to war against the Serbs in defense of the so-called Bosnian nation. Murray points out that there never was Bosnian nation (or even a Yugoslavian nation for that matter.) Likewise, the left  contrary to its supposed representatives -- has never really been in favor of peace; after all Barnes derided the pro war pacifists of his day. Murray even points out the similarities of the Bosnian Moslems to the old Bogomil heretics of that area (humorously pointing out that the Bogomils were what Ayn Rand falsely considered all Christians to be.)

At the same time Rothbard was writing these essays, he was writing monthly articles on economics in The Free Market newsletter. Those articles are gathered in MAKING ECONOMIC SENSE. If years from now someone asks me what really happened in the 80s and 90s, Ill direct them to these two books.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Hard-hitting "hard right" essays. , February 6, 2006

By	J. H. Huebert (Ohio, United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I was expecting these essays by Murray Rothbard to be a fun read, and they were. But they were also amazingly educational, providing a detailed political and cultural picture of the first half of the 1990's from a conservative/libertarian perspective.

Yes, I said "conservative/libertarian"! Rothbard writes here from an unambiguously right-wing perspective. And that's fine with me--we libertarians have all spent so much time hating the present administration that we may have forgotten how bad Clinton's politically correct crew really was. Still, I suspect Rothbard, were he still with us, would regret some of his Republican political endorsements here (which include George W. Bush for governor of Texas).

Anyway, these essays are full of wit, facts, and incisive analysis, all in Rothbard's usual crystal-clear writing style. The introduction suggests the book was edited down from a much larger group of articles Rothbard wrote for the Rothbard-Rockwell Report. I'd say it's about time for volume 2.