Book Reviews

The Cult of Executive Power

by George Leef July 1, 2008

The Cult of the Presidency: America’s Dangerous Devotion to Executive Power by Gene Healy (Cato Institute, 2008); 356 pages. Just in time for the 2008 presidential campaign comes the book we need to get Americans to think sensibly about the office that the candidates are so furiously seeking.

The Folly of Interventionism

by George Leef June 1, 2008

Foreign Follies: America’s New Global Empire by Doug Bandow (Xulon Press, 2006); 383 pages, $19.99. George Washington unfortunately sided with the big-government federalists when it came to domestic policy, but his famous Farewell Address contained some sage advice for America when it came to foreign policy — not to get ...

Bulldozed by Eminent Domain

by George Leef May 1, 2008

Bulldozed by Carla T. Main (Encounter Books 2007); 276 pages; $27.95. In 2005, eminent domain became a hot national issue with all the attention focused on it because of the Supreme Court’s decision in Kelo v. New London. While property-rights scholars and libertarian activists ...

A History of Libertarianism

by George Leef April 1, 2008

Radicals for Capitalism: A Freewheeling History of the Modern American Libertarian Movement by Brian Doherty (Public Affairs, 2007); 741 pages; $35. With Radicals for Capitalism, veteran libertarian journalist Brian Doherty (whose work is most often found in Reason) gives the world what he calls a “freewheeling history of the modern American libertarian ...

We Need Immigrants

by George Leef February 1, 2008

Immigrants: Your Country Needs Them by Philippe Legrain (Princeton, 2007); 374 pages; $27.95. Many years ago, I agreed to be a guest on a talk-radio program originating in California. The host wanted a speaker who would defend immigration. After I explained my position, the host opened the call-in lines, and for the ...

The Nightmare of the New Deal, Part 1

by George Leef December 1, 2007

Part 1 | Part 2 The Forgotten Man: A New History of the Great Depression by Amity Shlaes (HarperCollins, 2007); 464 pages. If you ask a random sample of Americans who know (or think they know) something about U.S. history to discuss the twin subjects of the Great Depression and the ...

The Lies of the Drug War

by Paul Armentano November 1, 2007

Lies, Damned Lies, and Drug War Statistics by Matthew B. Robinson and Renee G. Scherlen (Albany: State University of New York Press, 2007); 268 pages; $27.95. One war appears to be going well for the United States and its allies these days: the drug war. That was the lead in dozens of U.S. newspapers in response to a June 2007 ...

Rational Irrationality and Bad Policies

by George Leef October 1, 2007

The Myth of the Rational Voter: Why Democracies Choose Bad Policies by Bryan Caplan (Princeton University Press, 2007); 276 pages; $29.95. For many years, the standard account of the tendency for democratic governments to adopt perverse policies (restrictions on free trade, for ...

“Mr. Speaker, Peace Is Always Superior to War”

by Anthony Gregory September 1, 2007

A Foreign Policy of Freedom: Peace, Commerce, and Honest Friendship by Ron Paul (Lake Jackson, Texas: Foundation for Rational Economics and Education, 2007); 372 pages; $19.95. “Mr. Speaker, peace is always superior to war,” said Congressman Ron Paul (R-Texas) ...

Leviathan and Big-Government Conservatism

by George Leef August 1, 2007

Leviathan on the Right: How Big Government Conservatism Brought Down the Republican Revolution by Michael D. Tanner (Cato Institute: 2007); 321 pages; $22.95. My first experience in politics was as a teenager during the 1964 campaign pitting Lyndon Johnson and his band of tax-and-spend-crazy Democrats against Barry Goldwater and his Republican compatriots. ...

The Diagnosis of a Dying Republic, Part 1

by Anthony Gregory June 1, 2007

Part 1 | Part 2 Nemesis: The Last Days of the American Republic by Chalmers Johnson (New York: Metropolitan Books, 2006), 368 pages; $26. About 10 years ago, we libertarians were accustomed to hearing constitutionalist conservatives voicing our shared concern about the American ...

Liberty versus the Morality Police

by George Leef April 1, 2007

Liberty for All: Reclaiming Individual Privacy in a New Era of Public Morality by Elizabeth Price Foley (Yale University Press, 2006); 287 pages, $35.00. Most Americans have settled somnolently into the view that whatever laws are passed are all right because they’re the product of democracy. To be sure, there ...