I’ve been full of ideas recently, and here’s one of them: The Mises Institute should sell books to Borders and Barnes & Noble by taking one or two books like Rothbard’s “America’s Great Depression” or Hoppe’s “A Theory of Socialism and Capitalism,” and printing them out in bulk so that every book printed could be sold for as little as possible. I’m talking about printing approximately ten thousand copies of one of these books in order to drive the price down as low as possible. Then LvMI could profit by selling these books at a slight profit, maybe only a couple cents, per each book. Because the books would be relatively cheap, Borders and Barnes & Noble could easily sell them, bringing our message to thousands of people.
Of course, LvMI would have to choose books that there possibly could be a popular demand for. These have to be books written for the intelligent layman who only has a passing interest for economics or politics. Rothbard’s “America’s Great Depression” strikes me as perfect reading for today’s economic situtation, since everyone wants to know what happened to our booming 1920s-esque economy. Another Rothbard book which could be popular would be his “Betrayal of the American Right,” a good choice for liberals searching for firepower against neocons and paleoconservatives who are offended by the current state of the Republican Party. Yet another book with a similar topic could be Ekrich’s “Decline of American Liberalism,” which could attract liberals interested by the title and conservatives looking for a way to blast liberals.
LvMI doesn’t own Road to Serfdom. What I’m talking about is printing basic, marketable books (HA and MES don’t apply) that the LvMI has the right to publish (which probably cuts out a lot of Hayek, Woods, and DiLorenzo). Rothbard wrote a couple of good books for the interested layman, which we should market. Maybe we could get Rockwell’s “The Left, The Right, and The State” into bookstores across the nation. I think LvMI has the right to publish Frank Chodorov’s books, which could be a good idea.
All that I’m hoping is that something will be done.
I must say that I was mislead by the title of Hazlitt’s Economics in One Lesson. I thought it would be an introduction to economics, but it was more of a refutation of other economic theories/myths. LvMI recommends Rothbard’s The Case Against the Fed as an intro book but it’s mostly a book against the Fed and FRB. It would be great if Tom Woods wrote an “Intro to Economics”-style “textbook”. I think a book like this would be more helpful to average, non-economics major person than having them read Human Action or basically anything over 500 pages. What should be striven for is a simple intro to AE, not necessarily a book that refutes Keynesianism/Marxism/Socialism/et al.
“The Basics of (Austrian) Economics” would be a fine title. Also, I think making the titles of books less confrontational would be help us attract or not-deter lots of people. I can say that I have detered many socialist/commies/statists/whatever by simply mentioning the titles of some of the Austrian books. Their, typical response it that the books are probably sympathies for capitalism. Imagine the typical sorta-anti-capitalist going to Barnes & Noble and seeing “Democracy: The God that Failed”. They would be immidiately turned off and avoid the book. Also, a dictionary/glossary of AE terms and other related terms would be helpful.
Yes. I love it. Don’t like the title, however. Many sorta-anti-capitalists would be immidiately turned off by the title. Also, the focus of the book is to explain the current crises, not to be an intro to AE.
I think I might have seen one of Rothbard’s books or a collection of his articles/essays at a popular book store, but I can’t be certain if it’s an Institute published book or not.
I think people who dismiss a book simply because of its title are not the type of individuals who can rationally understand what is being explained in the book itself
Economics for Real People is a great book if you just want an understanding of basic economics. “The Regulated Consumer” is a good intro to issues with consumer “protection.” Ron Paul’s “Freedom Under Siege” might be something that the LvMI could print a couple thousand copies of and sell rather easily due to Ron Paul’s popularity.
“Economics in One Lesson” would have to be candidate #1. I know it doesn’t concentrate on the Business Cycle or the Fed, but I believe that understanding the basic truths about sound economics is far more important for beginners. His chapter on inflation, by the way, is excellent!
Reading that book was like…relieving for me. It was someone finally saying what I had been thinking all along but that not many people were saying. I’m sure everyone here felt something similar.