Here is Rothbard's stunning mind at work on some of the most serious topics in philosophy, economics, and politics, originally crafted as private memos. The advantage here is that you get very candid evaluations of the thought of the giants while avoiding the apparatus of formal papers. The result is more like a series of expansive letters to the reader rather than a collection drawn from a scholarly journal.

These important essays have never been published before. In fact, they were not written for publication. They were written on assignment by a foundation that employed Rothbard to read and review books. In many ways, then, the tone is unguarded, even reckless in a wonderful way, but this serves the reader's advantage.

The payoff here is that you get both Rothbard's perspective and a clear look at the thoughts of Karl Polanyi, F.A. Hayek, Leo Strauss, Ludwig von Mises, and other great thinkers of his time.

Some of his judgments are surprising. His initial review of Hayek's Constitution of Liberty, for example, is brutal in its criticism. But once the book came out, Rothbard moderated his opinion and called the book extremely important. Both essays appear herein. The same is true of his judgment of Strauss: at once blistering where he is wrong and congratulatory where he is right. Meanwhile, Rothbard is effusive in his praise of the work of Lionel Robbins.

There is one additional benefit from reading this volume: it shows a master critic at work. We can all be supremely grateful that a book like this exists at all. It gives us another glimpse into the mind of one of the great intellectual innovators of the 20th century.

CONTENTS

Preface by David Gordon

Intrduction: "Law and Nature in the Work of Murray N. Rothbard" by Roberta Modugno

Rothbard's Unpublished Writings

Rothbard on Leo Strauss

Criticism of the Subjectivism of Values

Criticism of Hayek: Historical Rights and Natural Rights

Criticism of the Concept of Coercion in Hayek

Reviews and Comments by Murray Newton Rothbard

1. Letter on Rugged Individualism by George B. Cutten

2. Confidential Memo to the Volker Fund on F.A. Hayek's The Constitution of Liberty

3. Letter on The Constitution of Liberty by F.A. Hayek

4. Review of Lionel Robbins's The Great Depression

5. Letter on The Eighteenth-Century Commonwealthman by Caroline Robbins

6. Letter on What Is Political Philosophy? by Leo Strauss

7. Letter on Thoughts on Machiavelli by Leo Strauss

8. Letter on On Tyranny by Leo Strauss

9. The Symposium on Relativism: A Critique

10. On Polanyi's The Great Transformation

Chronology of the Life and Works of Murray Newton Rothbard

References

Bibliography

1. Selected Writings by Murray N. Rothbard

2. Writings on Murray N. Rothbard

3. Writings of a General Nature

Index

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