| |||||||||||||||
Frequently Bought Together
Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought
by James Bovard
|
Terrorism and Tyranny: Trampling Freedom, Justice, and Peace to Rid the World of Evil by James Bovard |
by James Bovard
|
Send In The Waco Killers: Essays on the Freedom Movement, 1993-1998 by Jeanne Suprynowicz |
by James Bovard
|
Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
Bovard (Lost Rights) throws more red meat to angry libertarians in this antigovernment jeremiad. While he provides some frightening examples of how governments?mostly the U.S. federal?do more harm than good, his passion leads him to some hyperbolic conclusions. There are many passages that will make readers?not only welfare-state liberals but also moderate Democrats and Republicans?wonder whether they live in the same country as Bovard. One of his biggest targets is the notion of state sovereignty: "The doctrine of 'sovereignty' often does nothing more than provide a respectable gloss for some people's lust to control other people's behaviors, or to seize the fruits of other people's labor." That last clause is telling, for it could just as well be turned against Bovard. It is precisely to stop nongovernmental entities (e.g., factory owners) from seizing the fruit of other people's labor (e.g., factory workers) that so many of the regulations and laws Bovard decries (e.g., a minimum wage or corporate taxes) were instituted. But Bovard is well-read and makes entertaining use of Rousseau, Hegel, Hobbes (he's very fond of Leviathan) and other thinkers. He's also consistent and intellectually honest enough to follow his own ideology to its logical conclusion about, for instance, marijuana (legalize it, he says). Few readers will agree with Bovard that the dominant spirit in America today is one that idolizes the state, but most will find that he makes a rousing theoretical case against statism.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
From Library Journal
This author comes highly touted by the mainstream conservative press, and with good reason. Bovard, a journalist best known for his influential Lost Rights: The Destruction of American Liberty (St. Martin's, 1994), sets forth a passionate indictment of the state's coercive powers over the people. He is especially critical of the "Peter Pan" theory of good government and other political illusions fostered by the state. Bovard reviews 200 years of political philosophy and makes effective use of extreme examples of government programs and regulations to drive home his essential message. Although his argument is bipartisan in its critique of the state's excesses and excuses, the overall effect is one of polemical overkill. Still, this is a well-researched book that can serve as a sampling of libertarian thought for many libraries.?Thomas A. Karel, Franklin & Marshall Coll. Lib., Lancaster, PA
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
Product Details
Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
|
More About the Author
Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.
› Visit Amazon's James Bovard Page
› Visit Amazon's James Bovard Page
Inside This Book
(learn more)
First Sentence:
MARK TWAIN, after enduring numerous marathon concert performances in Germany in the 1880s, concluded that "Wagner is better than he sounds." Read the first page Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
paternalism presumes, more power government, filled milk, freedom under the law, government coercion, freedom from want, positive liberty Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Supreme Court, United States, New York, Justice Department, Social Security, President Clinton, Washington Post, New Deal, District of Columbia, University of Chicago, Commerce Department, Federal Register, Soviet Union, Civil Rights Act, First Amendment, James Madison, Postal Service, White House, Agriculture Department, American Revolution, Bill Clinton, John Locke, Customs Service, Democratic Party, Franklin Roosevelt New!
Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
MARK TWAIN, after enduring numerous marathon concert performances in Germany in the 1880s, concluded that "Wagner is better than he sounds." Read the first page Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
paternalism presumes, more power government, filled milk, freedom under the law, government coercion, freedom from want, positive liberty Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Supreme Court, United States, New York, Justice Department, Social Security, President Clinton, Washington Post, New Deal, District of Columbia, University of Chicago, Commerce Department, Federal Register, Soviet Union, Civil Rights Act, First Amendment, James Madison, Postal Service, White House, Agriculture Department, American Revolution, Bill Clinton, John Locke, Customs Service, Democratic Party, Franklin Roosevelt New!
Concordance | Text Stats Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
Citations (learn more)
This book cites 100
books:
See all 100 books this book cites
6
books
cite this book:
See all 6 books citing this book
- Social Contract: Essays by Locke, Hume, and Rousseau by John Locke on 7 pages
- The Bill of Rights: With Writings That Formed Its Foundation (Little Books of Wisdom) by James Madison on 5 pages
- Farm Fiasco by James Bovard on 5 pages
- Montesquieu: The Spirit of the Laws (Cambridge Texts in the History of Political Thought) by Charles de Montesquieu on 4 pages
- TYRANNY UNMASKED by JOHN OF CAROLINE TAYLOR on 4 pages
See all 100 books this book cites
- The End of Democracy by Abid Ullah Jan in Back Matter (1), and Back Matter (2)
- The Ballad of Carl Drega by Vin Suprynowicz on page 34, and Back Matter
- The Ultimate Tragedy: Colonialists Rushing to Global War to Save the Crumbling Empire by Abid Ullah Jan in Back Matter (1), and Back Matter (2)
- The Slaves Shall Serve: Meditations on Liberty by James Wasserman in Back Matter
- Dependent on D.C.: The Rise of Federal Control over the Lives of Ordinary Americans by Charlotte A. Twight in Back Matter
See all 6 books citing this book
What Do Customers Ultimately Buy After Viewing This Item?
 |
80% buy the item featured on this page: Freedom in Chains: The Rise of the State and the Demise of the Citizen $15.60 |
 |
6% buy Glenn Beck's Common Sense: The Case Against an Out-of-Control Government, Inspired by Thomas Paine $7.19 |
 |
5% buy Send In The Waco Killers: Essays on the Freedom Movement, 1993-1998 $21.95 |
 |
5% buy Lost Rights: The Destruction of American Liberty $18.00 |
Tags Customers Associate with This Product(What's this?)Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
|
Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store
If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store.
Learn more
Customer Reviews
|
Share your thoughts with other customers:
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
|
|
Customer Discussions
|
This product's forum
Active discussions in related forums
Search Customer Discussions
|
Listmania!
So You'd Like to...
Product Information from the Amapedia Community
Beta (What's this?)Be the first person to add an article about this item at Amapedia.com.
› See featured Amapedia.com articles
Look for Similar Items by Category
Look for Similar Items by Subject
Your Recent History
(What's this?)|
After viewing product detail pages or search results, look here to find an easy way to navigate back to pages you are interested in. |
