A trip to the Mises Book Store

Miscellaneous General
1

Just had a birthday among other things… so it’s time to expand the wannabe Library I’ve got going. And I would like your help, as unfortunately I don’t have unlimited funds to work with. [:)]

What I’m interested in; biographies of the greats, books that help me communicate and better understand the message of Liberty, understanding the philosophies of other schools and why they are wrong. Including the classics that are some what Liberty related or individualistic, timeless, anti-tyrannical etc.

I’ll probably leave out books that delve into the very finer details, that aren’t very necessary for the layman to fathom. (De Soto’s book?) I might get those later on…

But at the moment I am trying to get a good coverage of all areas. If you see any overlaps, suggestions, recommendations, replacements please don’t hesitate to tell me! Thanks! First I thought it was best to show you what I already have (Ordered about 30 books at the start of the Ron Paul campaign, when I first discovered the message of Liberty), then I’ll show what I am about to purchase - whats in the cart, and then the ones I am considering on - it’d be great if you could give some advice!

Also, I have all the pdf’s and audio of the whole school.. so if it’s short or if the book is mainly articles pieced together from Libertarian Forum etc there is probably no need.

And I am from Australia, so I am trying to steer clear of books that focus on historical accounts - that don’t have a lesson or universal law / moral / ethics attached. Hopefully I can apply what has been learnt to an Australian context in the future.

Current Books I Own:

The Law by Frederic Bastiat
The Anti-Fed Papers
The Federalist Papers
The Rights of Man, Common Sense and Other Writings by Thomas Paine
Our Enemy, The State by Albert Jay Nock

Revolution: A Manifesto by Ron Paul
The Conscience of a Conservative by Barry Goldwater
How I Found Freedom in An Unfree World by Harry Browne
The Constitution of Liberty by Frederik Hayek
Dedication and Leadership by Douglas Hyde
The End of America by Naomi Wolf

Human Action by Ludwig Von Mises
Economics in One Lesson by Henry Hazlitt
Freakonomics by Stephen D Levitt
The Road to Serfdom by Frederik Hayek

Gold, Peace and Prosperity by Ron Paul
What has Government Done to Our Money? by Murray Rothbard
America’s Great Depression by Murray Rothbard
The Creature from Jekyll Island by G. Edward Griffin

The Illiad by Homer
The Odyssey by Homer
Ethics by Aristotle
The Republic by Plato
The Origin of Species by Charles Darwin
The Last Days of Socrates by Plato
The Inferno by Dante

Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand
The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand
1984 by George Orwell
Animal Farm by George Orwell
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse
Catch 22 by Joesph Heller

The Prophet by Khalil Gibran
Handbook to Higher Consciousness by Ken Keyes
A History of Doubt by Hecht
Walden by Henry David Thoreau

The Art of War by Sun Tzu
The Prince by Machiavelli
A Foreign Policy of Freedom by Ron Paul
Imperial Hubris by Michael Scheuer

In the Cart:

The Essential Rothbard by David Gordon

The Ethics of Liberty by Murray N. Rothbard

Man, Economy, and State with Power and Market (The Scholar’s Edition) by Murray N. Rothbard

Austrian Perspective on the History of Economic Thought (2 volume set) by Murray N. Rothbard

For A New Liberty by Murray N. Rothbard

Notes on Democracy by Mencken

The Essential von Mises by Murray N. Rothbard

Socialism by Ludwig Von Mises

The Anti-Capitalistic Mentality by Ludwig Von Mises

The Perfect Day by Ira Levin

The Moon is a Harsh Mistress by Robert A. Heinlein

Considering:

If I get the Mystery of Banking by Murry Rothbard, would it be pointless too also get The Theory of Money and Credit and the Money, Bank Credit, and Economic Cycles ?

Is Man vs Welfare State by Henry Hazlitt, worth getting?

Has anyone read, The Gulag Archipelago by Aleksandr I. Solzhenitsyn or the Black Book of Communism? Are they worthy? One better than the other?

Egalitarianism as a Revolt Against Nature and Other Essays? What do you think? Anything new, not covered elsewhere?

Extraordinary Popular Delusions & the Madness of Crowds by Charles Mackay OR
The True Believer: Thoughts on the Nature of Mass Movements by Eric Hoffer OR
Memoirs of Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds, Volume I by Charles MacKay?

Is it worth getting The Driver by Garet Garett, if I’ve already got Atlas Shrugged? Is there a better novel by Garett?

Theory and History by Ludwig Von Mises, I guess this covers Marxism etc? It could be used as the continuation of Rothbard’s “History of Economic Thought?” Does Rothbard cover all of this in his 2 volumes set?

15 Great Austrian Economists by Randall G. Holcombe ?
Crisis and Leviathan by Higgs ?
Democracy: The God That Failed by Hoppe ?
Economics and Ethics of Private Property by Hoppe ?
Marxism Unmasked: From Delusion to Destruction by Ludwig Von Mises ? *
Planned Chaos by Ludwig Von Mises ? *
The Failure of the New Economics by Henry Hazlitt ?
Let’s Abolish Government by Lysander Spooner ?
Time Will Run Back by Henry Hazlitt ?

* Point of getting this if I am already getting Socialism?

Mises store Intl shipping
2

You’ve already got some pretty advanced books that aren’t for the layman!

However, here’s my recommendation for you. You had 11 books in your cart, so I’m recommending 11 too:

  1. Ethics of Liberty - this is mandatory reading to understand what libertarianism is about, and why utilitarianism is inferior as a defense of liberty.

  2. Power and Market - this shows how an anarcho-capitalist society would work.

  3. For a New Liberty - this also talks about anarcho-capitalism.

  4. Chaos Theory - once again, essential anarcho-capitalist reading.

  5. Crisis and Leviathan - the key book to understanding what causes Big Government. Higgs’ finest work. It was peer-reviewed by Rothbard himself.

  6. Depression, War and Cold War - demolishes Keynesian myths about the Great Depression and the World Wars

  7. Egalitarianism as a Revolt against nature - awesome essays about the libertarian movement and prospects for liberty.

  8. The Costs of War - essential Austrian book demolishing arguments for the warfare state.

  9. 15 Great Austrian Economists - provides a nice description of the development of the school and the key ideas.

  10. Road to Serfdom - this is Hayek’s most famous book. Basically similar to Mises’ argument in Omnipotent Government but worth reading.

  11. The Myth of National Defense - defends private production of security against its enemies.

3

Oh by the way… HAPPY BIRTHDAY! [^]

4

Hmm, will be going through these - best one for each category..

Anarchy and Law

Anarchy and the Law

Enterprise of Law, The: Justice without the State

Freedom and the Law

Chaos Theory

National Defense / Private Defense

Myth of National Defense, The

Private Production of Defense

War

As We Go Marching

Costs of War

Century of War, A

Defend America First

Depression, War, and Cold War

How Diplomats Make War

Merchants of Death, The

Omnipotent Government: The Rise of Total State and Total War

Rise and Decline of the State, The

Resurgence of the Warfare State: The Crisis Since 9/11

We Who Dared to Say No to War

Refutation of Marxism / Socialism

Marxism Unmasked: From Delusion to Destruction

Karl Marx and the Close of His System

Resurrecting Marx

Requiem for Marx

Biography of Murray Rothbard

Essential Rothbard, The

Irrepressible Rothbard

Biography of Ludwig Von Mises

The Essential von Mises by Murray N. Rothbard

Mises: The Last Knight of Liberalism

Just wondering though; how does the Delivery work? Because its a bit of a hindrance to all those who are internationals.

Is UPS a government run post office?Because just simply looking at a purchase of around $200 USD, shipping alone =

Method Rate
USPS Priority Mail International
$107.70 USD
USPS Express Mail International (EMS)
$124.00 USD
UPS Worldwide Expedited(SM)
$227.35 USD

And it’s only 9 books! I don’t care if it takes ages to arrive, I’m in no hurry… but seriously. Lysander Spooner start up your Mail company again, geezus! It costs nearly half the total book price alone just to get them here.

Isn’t it possible for someone to just put them all in a box and send them all together, through some private courier? But even still

Airmail M-Bags (260) —

Direct Sack to One Addressee



Weight not over 11 lbs.

$55.00

What am I missing here?

5

UPS isn’t government

USPS is

6

I’d suggest Anarchy and the Law, all of the others except The Enteprise of Law are available online and the former sounds better.

The latter of those is just an essay and included in the former if my memory serves correctly.

Higgs is wonderful, The Rise and the Decline of the State is reputedly excellent, although it’s more of a history of civilization than it is concerned with war. A lot of those such as The Merchants of Death and How Diplomats are online as far as I know. Denson’s books also look very good so you might want to get those.

This really depends on what you’re looking for, the last of those is probably the worst when it comes to a refutation. All of them are online except for Gordon’s book, although I think that Gordon’s book doesn’t primarily focus on Marx but more recent Marxist thinkers (Cohen, for example). Marxism Unmasked will probably suffice as a good refutation though, as well as Bohm Bawerk’s book. Actually you’re missing Mises’ Socialism which is probably the best.

Neither, go for Raimondo’s book for an actual biography.

Huelsmann’s book.

7

Definately get Democracy: The God that Failed, The Economics and Ethics of Private Property and A Theory of Socialism and Capitalism all by Hoppe and neither are particularly difficult to read. Liberalism by Mises is a good introduction to classic liberalism. The Market for Liberty is probably worth looking at if you’re interested in a work that will demonstrate the workings of a capitalist based system of the production of security.

8

I would also suggest two very important books: The Politics of Unemployment by Hans F. Senholz and Out of Work: Unemployment and Government in Twentieth-Century America by Lowell E. Gallaway and Richard K. Vidder.

9

I’m been thinking over this and realized that the shipping costs are obscenely expensive for internationals at mises.org, so just go through a reputable local bookstore. Give them your list of books, and they usually won’t charge for shipping, because its included in their overheads (or the publishers give bookstores discounts). At least that’s been my experience.

10

Seconded, get all of Hoppe’s books if you want to read some of the best of what modern Austrianism has to offer. And whatever your final cart looks like, you MUST buy and read Socialism by Mises.

11

Along these lines, and since I notice you have some Homer, Plato, and Aristotle in your library, and might be a budding Classicist, I’d also recommend (although of course it’s not in the Mises store) any collection of Aeschylus that has Prometheus Bound: it’s wonderful and has a great anti-tyrannical theme running throughout.

12

Ah ok, yeah that’s what I meant. So does the Mises Institute, have to use them?

Surely there is a cheap alternative? [:(]

Well I was already getting that. So no point in getting any others? Thanks.

13

I think it’s a big turn off, for a lot of people. I’m sure the Mises Institute would be selling a lot more books, if the transport costs could be lowered?

Does anyone know how they figure in the cost? There is a formula apparently, which works in pricing brackets. 1-6 books, then you get a 7th, you jump into the 7-12 books - so you may aswell add 5 more books, the cost of shipping won’t go up. At least that’s how I understand it too work.

I’d prefer to give the LvMI my money, but if a solution or alternative can’t be found, I guess I’ll go check out your suggestion and see what can be done.

14

Ok, this is what the current cart looks like. And thanks so much for the help so far! [Y]

The Ethics of Liberty by Murray N. Rothbard (Natural Law, non utilitarianism defense)

Man, Economy, and State with Power and Market (The Scholar’s Edition) by Murray N. Rothbard (Economics, Power and Market)

For A New Liberty by Murray N. Rothbard (Current problems, solutions)

Austrian Perspective on the History of Economic Thought (2 volume set) by Murray N. Rothbard (History of Economic Thought, nuff said)

Socialism by Ludwig Von Mises (Best refutation of Socialism?)

Crisis and Leviathan by Robert Higgs (How the size of state increases due to War)

An Enemy of the State by Justin Raimond (Biography of Mr Libertarian, Intellectual Giant)

Anarchy and the Law by Justin Stringham (Anarchy and Law)

Market for Liberty by Linda and Morris Tannehill (Production of private security)

15 Great Austrian Economists by Randall G. Holcombe (General Overview)

Democracy: The God That Failed by Hans-Hermann Hoppe (Contains bits of ‘Myth of National defense’, demolishes Democracy)

Taxpayers in Revolt by David Beito (Lessons of the past, equally relevant for the present and future. It shows how the movement was defeated by the State. I don’t want history to repeat itself.)

The Betrayal of the American Right by Murray N. Rothbard (Point of getting this, aswell as Rothbards biography?)

Egalitarianism as a Revolt Against Nature and Other Essays by Murray N. Rothbard

The Rise and Decline of the State by Martin van Creveld

Notes:

  • “Cost of War” in full audio availbability on Mises.org, so are others.
  • Essentially lacks: Finer details of Banking, Theory of Money and Credit, Epistemological grounds and some other areas, which I’m not thoroughly interested in at the moment.
15

I am currently shopping at the Mises store for both Human Action, and Man, Economy and State. I checked on Amazon for the reviews of both works and I found that the first Scholar’s Edition of Man, Economy and State has 104 more pages than the new Scholar’s Edition. Does anyone know the reason for this?

I was also wondering if the last Scholar’s Editions were of higher quality than the current ones. I already placed an order but I am planning on giving away some copies anyways. That Economics In One Lesson edition put out by the LvMI is absolutely incredible. It is hardcover and at a great price! This text is essential for beginners. I have already forwarded the pdf to many people and now I intend to hand out hard copies (people tend to prefer reading the hard copies I find).

16

I don’t know about the new Scholar’s Edition of Human Action, but the old (blue) one is the most beautiful book I have ever come across in my entire life. To give you an indication of the kind of detail that went into producing it, the last page of text in the book has these words:

It is sad to see it go out of print. Hopefully in a future where there is more interest in the works of Mises, we will see another fine reissue of the book.

17

As an aside, have you ever gotten through all of Aristotle’s Ethics? It’s been sitting on my desk for nearly a year, but I can’t seem to take it on. The style is abominably dry.

18

Yeah, several years ago. Before I knew about the Austrian School or Ron Paul. I wanted to get into the classics etc. So I got the known ones, Plato’s - Republic and Aristotles - Ethics etc.

I largely saw them as the same. All oldschoolers, writing about mostly the same thing. I never really saw the massive distinction between Plato as a social engineer and Aristotle’s work as I do now.

Ethics I really enjoyed & found it rather eye opening, because it was my first experience with philosophy and ethics.

You are right, it was slow going and I had to read some parts several times before I completely grasped what was being said. But I kept at it.

I gather you already know a fair bit about ethics etc? It lowers your self interest in spending your time reading it. I had the same with Human Action at the moment. Read first part very quickly, all new and good. Then it got to catallatics and I got bored pretty quick, felt like I knew it already - prices etc.

I’ll come back to it, just feel there are better things to read at the moment. [:)]

This is a response from the Store, who are helping. [:)]

Our shipping is based on weight. If you proceed to the checkout and enter your address, the next step after (but BEFORE payment) is the shipping for the weight of your order to the destination. The shipping estimator is not accurate for international shipments, except for Mexico and Canada.

We offer Media Mail as a shipping option, but it is limited by weight and only available for US domestic shipments.

The Flat Rate box is offered when possible but when certain items and or combinations of items are included Flat Rate no longer appears due to the weight and dimensions of said items.

So that is probably something for all internationals to realise?

19

Maybe you should get Bob Murphy’s study guides for Human Action and Man, Economy & State? I think that would help you understand some of the technical points in the books much better (since you’re not an economist).

Since you’re going for the advanced texts, do you really need a general overview like 15 Great Austrian Economists now? The advanced texts and the study guides would already talk about some of the great Austrian economists, in a much more detailed way.

Other than that, I’m liking your list. You’ve got the most important book Higgs ever wrote, so I’m happy [:P] Higgs is the greatest living economist in my opinion.

20

That is a good point. I’ll take it out.

I’m also wondering about Raimondo’s - Enemy of the State and Rothbard’s - Betrayal of the American Right… in terms of over lap?

And the Study guides are also a great idea. Since I am a student after all. [:D]