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The Fountainhead, by Ayn Rand
The Fountainhead (excerpt) has become an enduring piece of literature, more popular now than when published in 1943. On the surface, it is a story of one man, Howard Roark, and his struggles as an architect in the face of a successful rival, Peter Keating, and a newspaper columnist, Ellsworth Toohey. But the book addresses a number of universal themes: the strength of the individual, the tug between good and evil, the threat of fascism. The confrontation of those themes, along with the amazing stroke of Rand's writing, combine to give this book its enduring influence. -Amazon Note: The mass market paperback is not recommended as it is very difficult to read due to it's small fonts. |
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Atlas Shrugged, by Ayn Rand
The story (excerpt) of a man who said he would stop the motor of the world--and did. This is not an ordinarily structured novel; it is an overt statement of author's philosophy of Objectivism. The plot, like many of those employed by Shakespeare, is not wholly original. In any event, Rand uses the complex plot allegorically as a vehicle for describing her own unique philosophy and its consequences. Rand's philosophy, and it is clear enough upon reading, is a synthesis of Aristotelianism with more modern "humanistic" concerns, in the greatest and original sense of the term. Rand ties Aristotle's basic conceptions of logic to the workings of egoism and capitalism. She rejects Nietzschean irrationalism, Kantian ethics, and the kind of Pragmatism championed by Dewey. Her suggested replacement for these constructs is a body of thought which recognizes and responds to human needs and values, economic conditions, political necessities, and logical imperatives, even if incompletely at times. -Amazon Also here, you need to avoid the unreadable mass market paperback due to small fonts. |
For A New Liberty, 3ed, by Murray Rothbard, 1985 - Fox & Wilkes
Libertarianism rests upon one single axiom: that no man or group of men shall aggress upon the person or property of anyone else. Having made the philosophical case for liberty, Rothbard--in one of the book's most powerful chapters--turns to a withering critique of the chief violator of liberty: the State. Libertarianism is established as the most rigorous and consistent manifestation of a centuries-long drive for personal and economic liberty.
Reading Rothbard is a mindstretching intellectual adventure. For not only is he a brilliant scholar; he never flinches at taking the libertarian creed to it logical conclusions, no matter how controversial those conclusions may sometimes be. -Amazon
The Ethics of Liberty, by Murray N. Rothbard, 1998 - New York University Press
Rothbard defence of property right-based libertarianism and rejection of force are brought to their extreme.
What Has Government Done to Our Money, by Murray N. Rothbard, 1990 - Ludwig Von Mises Institute
Rothbard's most famous monetary essay. It has appeared in multiple editions and influenced two generatons of economists, investors, and businessmen. After presenting the basics of money and banking theory, he traces the decline of the dollar from the 18th century to the present, and provides lucid critiques of central banking, New Deal monetary policy, Nixonian fiat money, and fixed exchange rates. He also provides a blueprint for a return to a 100 percent reserve gold standard.
-Amazon
Hidden Order: The Economics of Everyday Life, by David D. Friedman, 1997 - HarperCollins
The Machinery of Freedom: A Guide to Radical Capitalism, 2ed, by David D. Friedman, 1989 - Open Court Publishing Company
The author writes: My book presents a case for libertarianism aimed at intelligent readers, libertarian or otherwise. The book is routinely cited on the net as the best explanation of anarcho-capitalism--and not always by me.
-Amazon
Law's Order, by David D. Friedman, 2000 - Princeton University Press
The author sets out to provide an economic analysis of law. We learn that economics, whose fundamental issue is the implications of rational choice, is an essential tool for figuring out the effects of legal rules. Knowing what effects rules will have is central both to understanding the rules we have and to deciding what rules we should have. The first section of the book considers basic economic concepts, such as rationality and economic efficiency, that can be used to understand a wide range of legal issues. The book's second section applies economics to the analysis of the core areas of law, such as intellectual property and contracts. Friedman, a law school professor and economist, states that his target reader for this book is an intelligent layman, followed by law professionals and students. Another view is that this is really a textbook in disguise, which will be used primarily in the classroom by the author and other law professors. Mary Whaley
-Amazon