Explore Freedom

Book Review: Rich Man’s War, Poor Man’s Fight

by George Leef July 1, 2005

Rich Man’s War, Poor Man’s Fight: Race, Class, and Power in the Rural South during the First World War by Jeanette Keith (University of North Carolina Press, 2004); 260 pages; $55.95 hardcover; $22.50 paperback. What little most Americans have heard about U.S. involvement in World War I is that U.S. ... [click for more]

Book Review: Against Leviathan

by George Leef May 1, 2005

Against Leviathan: Government Power and a Free Society by Robert Higgs (Independent Institute, 2004); 405 pages; $18.95. Readers familiar with the writings of the 16th-century English philosopher Thomas Hobbes will immediately understand the thrust of this exceptional book. Hobbes attempted to justify an ... [click for more]

Book Review: Christianity and War

by Anthony Gregory April 1, 2005

Christianity and War; And Other Essays against the Warfare State by Laurence M. Vance (Pensacola, Fla.: Vance Publications, 2005); 118 pages. When asked to name his favorite political philosopher in late 1999 during a debate with other Republicans in the campaign for the presidential nomination, George W. Bush named Jesus Christ. Bush’s ... [click for more]

Book Review: Isabel Paterson and the Ideas of America

by Wendy McElroy March 30, 2005

Isabel Paterson and the Idea of America: The Woman and the Dynamo by Stephen Cox Some readers of Stephen Cox’s recently published biography, Isabel Paterson and the Idea of America: The Woman and the Dynamo, may succumb to the same temptation I did. I immediately scanned the index for references ... [click for more]

Book Review: The Bush Betrayal

by Brigid ONeill February 1, 2005

The Bush Betrayal by James Bovard (Palgrave Macmillan, 2004); 336 pages; $26.95. The reelection of George Walker Bush rubs too much like the gruesome aftermath of a hit and run — made bearable only by our instinctual ability to self-medicate in numbness. For a first-stage coping mechanism — just ask the Sopranos psychiatrist — it ... [click for more]

Book Review: Restoring the Lost Constitution

by George Leef January 1, 2005

Restoring the Lost Constitution —The Presumption of Liberty by Randy E. Barnett (Princeton University Press, 2004); 366 pages; $32.50 Sometimes a picture really is worth a thousand words. The dust jacket of this superlative book shows the first page of the U.S. Constitution with numerous holes in it, as if words and passages had been cut out — a ... [click for more]

Book Review: Bad Trip

by Paul Armentano December 1, 2004

Bad Trip: How the War against Drugs Is Destroying America by Joel Miller (Nashville: WorldNet Daily Books); 242 pages; $24.99. The self-proclaimed toughest cop in America, Sheriff Joe Arpaio of Maricopa County, Arizona, brandishes a badge and a gun, and drives a custom-painted U.S. Army tank. “We are proud to have the ultimate weapon in the war on drugs in our ... [click for more]

Book Review: Drug War Crimes

by Paul Armentano November 1, 2004

Drug War Crimes: The Consequences of Prohibition by Jeffrey A. Miron (Oakland: The Independent Institute, 2004); 109 pages; $15.95. For the past several decades economists, perhaps more so than any other group of professionals, have been largely united in their criticism of American drug policy. On numerous occasions, prominent economists such as Milton ... [click for more]

Book Review: How Capitalism Saved America

by George Leef October 1, 2004

How Capitalism Saved America by Thomas J. DiLorenzo (Crown Forum, 2004); 285 pages; $25.95. Back in my days as a college professor, I used to give my students a quiz on the first day of class. It didn’t count in their grades, and the purpose was simply to find out the extent to which they had absorbed the ... [click for more]

Book Review: A History of Force

by George Leef June 1, 2004

A History of Force by James L. Payne (Sandpoint, Idaho: Lytton Publishing, 2004); 296 pages; $23.95. Tune in to most news broadcasts and you will probably hear one or more stories dealing with the use of force: armed conflicts in the Middle East; crimes; riots; and more. It often seems that we live in a violence-saturated world. Perhaps so, but political ... [click for more]

Book Review: Terrorism and Tyranny

by Brigid ONeill March 1, 2004

Terrorism and Tyranny: Trampling Freedom, Justice, and Peace to Rid the War of Evil by James Bovard (Palgrave Macmillan, 2003); 448 pages; $26.95. If the Constitution could be imagined as a sort of master tailor for the people, fashioning a government that represents their general shape with each electoral try-on, the Bush administration would be bursting at the seams. In an ... [click for more]

Book Review: Guns, Freedom, and Terrorism

by George Leef February 1, 2004

Guns, Freedom, and Terrorism by Wayne LaPierre (Nashville, Tenn.: WND Books, 2003); 246 pages; $24.99. Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty. Nowhere is that phrase proven to be true more often than in the unending battle between those in our society who believe that the way to reduce violence is to take away from individual persons the ... [click for more]