Explore Freedom

Book Review: The Economics of Plunder

by Richard M. Ebeling May 1, 1991

Government: Whose Obedient Servant? A Primer in Public Choice by Gordon Tullock, Arthur Seldon, and Gordon L. Brady (London: Institute of Economic Affairs, 2000); 184 pages; $15. IN SPITE OF THE COLOSSAL DISASTER of socialism throughout the world and the corrupt inefficiencies and distortions caused by the interventionist-welfare state, virtually every country in the ... [click for more]

Book Reviews: Economics on Trial

by Richard M. Ebeling April 1, 1991

Economics on Trial: Lies, Myths, and Realities by Mark Skousen (Homewood, Illinois: Business One Irwin, 1990) 314 pp.; $21.95 (h). For 150 years after Adam Smith published The Wealth of Nations in 1776, most economists started from a ... [click for more]

Book Review: Unfinished Business

by Richard M. Ebeling March 1, 1991

Unfinished Business: A Civil Rights Strategy for America's Third Century by Clint Bolick (San Francisco: Pacific Research Institute, 1990) 159 PP; $19.95. At a time in world history when the demand for human rights has become almost universal, little or no attention has been paid to the importance of economic liberty. If a man is to have a right ... [click for more]

Book Review: Capitalism

by Richard M. Ebeling February 1, 1991

Capitalism by Arthur Seldon (New York: Basil Blackwell, 1990) 419 pp; $29.95. Arthur Seldon has been one of the most influential economists of the post-World War II era. He studied with Friedrich A. Hayek at the London School of Economics in the 1930s. After the war, he worked as an economic consultant in the ... [click for more]

Book Review: Free Market Morality

by Richard M. Ebeling January 1, 1991

Free Market Morality: The Political Economy of the Austrian School by Alexander H. Shand ( New York: Routledge, 1990) 228 pp.; $16.95 (h). The global collapse of socialism and central planning have left a large ideological vacuum on the world stage. What shall replace them remains uncertain. Declarations in support of ... [click for more]

Book Review: The Ethics of Redistribution

by Richard M. Ebeling December 1, 1990

The Ethics of Redistribution by Bertrand de Jouvenel (Indianapolis: Liberty press, 1990) 118 pp.; $12 (h);$5 (p). In the 20th century, governments increasingly have become great engines for the redistribution of wealth. Indeed, most of the activity of modern governments centers around taking ... [click for more]

Book Review: Rock Around the Bloc

by Richard M. Ebeling November 1, 1990

Rock Around the Bloc: A History of Rock Music in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union by Timothy W. Ryback (New York: Oxford University Press, 1990) 272 pp., $21.95. My own taste in music runs along classical lines: Beethoven, Mozart, Vivaldi and Haydn. And in 20th-century music, I prefer the "Cotton Club" rhythm of Duke Ellington and the sound of ... [click for more]

Book Review: Preferential Policies

by Richard M. Ebeling October 1, 1990

Preferential Policies: An International Perspective by Thomas Sowell (New York: William Morrow and Co., Inc., 1990) 221 pp.; $17.95. America was founded upon the idea that it is the individual who possesses rights. This was counter to the political order that dominated in the rest of the world. Practically everywhere else, it was accident of birth that determined one's "privileges." ... [click for more]

Book Review: The Awakening of the Soviet Union

by Richard M. Ebeling September 1, 1990

The eyes of the world have been riveted on events in Eastern Europe. With what seemed like spectacular speed, the Communists who had ruled these countries since shortly after the end of the Second World War were replaced in most cases by non-Communists. These new leaders have declared their intention of respecting the individual rights of their citizens, reinstituting ... [click for more]

Book Review: Tell the World

by Richard M. Ebeling August 1, 1990

Tell the World: What Happened in China and Why by Liu Binyan (New York: Pantheon Books, 1989; 195 pp.; $18.95.) (Not available from FFF.) For 150 years, China has been a land of turmoil and tragedy. In the early 1840s, following the first opium war with Great Britain, the Manchu dynasty, which had ... [click for more]

Book Review: South Africa’s War Against Capitalism

by Richard M. Ebeling July 1, 1990

Apartheid is ending in South Africa. The economic barriers and social restrictions that have stood in the way of greater black-African participation in South African society are being dismantled. The release of Nelson Mandela earlier this year symbolized this more than any other single event so far. But what does the future hold in store for South Africa? The African ... [click for more]

Book Review: Free Persons and the Common Good

by Richard M. Ebeling March 1, 1990

Free Persons and the Common Good by Michael Novak (Lanham Maryland: Madison Books, 1989); 233 pp.; $17.95. One of the most profoundly enduring, yet frustratingly illusive concepts, has been that of the "common good." Under its banner, noble ideals have been proclaimed and despicable crimes have been committed. Its elasticity of meaning and ambiguity of content have been its most appealing ... [click for more]