Book Reviews

Book Review: Death by Government

by Richard M. Ebeling October 1, 1994

Death by Government by R. J. Rummel (New Brunswick, N.J.: Transaction Publishers, 1994) 496 pages, $49.95. In 1900, when the 20th century was about to begin, practically all political commentators, social analysts, and newspaper editorialists were sure that the new century would bring greater economic prosperity, more personal liberty and human freedom, and fewer wars and conflicts around the world. Democratic ...

Book Review: Hayek on Hayek

by Richard M. Ebeling September 1, 1994

Hayek on Hayek: An Autobiographical Dialogue by F. A. Hayek, edited by Stephen Kresge and Leif Wenar (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1994) $27.95; 170 pages. This year marks the fiftieth anniversary of the publication of Friedrich A. Hayek's classic volume, The Road to Serfdom. Appearing towards the end of the Second World War, it challenged many ...

Book Review: The Nazi Connection

by Richard M. Ebeling August 1, 1994

The Nazi Connection: Eugenics, American Racism, and German National Socialism by Stefan Kühl (New York: Oxford University Press, 1994) 166 pages; $22.00. In his 1910 textbook, Elementary Principles of Economics, world-renowned Yale Professor Irving Fisher devoted part of a chapter to "Population in Relation to Wealth." Fisher warned of the problem of "race suicide" caused by the ...

Book Review: Double Lives

by Richard M. Ebeling July 1, 1994

Double Lives: Spies and Writers in the Secret Soviet War of Ideas against the West by Stephen Koch (New York: Free Press, 1994) 419 pages; $24.95. In the first half of the 20th century, one of the most respected and internationally famous economists was Arthur C. Pigou. A Cambridge University professor, Pigou ...

Book Review: Post-Communist Societies in Transition

by Richard M. Ebeling June 1, 1994

Post-Communist Societies in Transition: A Social Market Perspective by John Gray (London: Social Market Foundation, 1994) 45 pages; £8.00. In 1984, Oxford University philosopher John Gray published a book entitled Hayek on Liberty . After it appeared in a revised edition in 1986, I wrote a review of the book for the February 1988 issue of The Freeman ...

Book Review: Reinventing Civil Society

by Richard M. Ebeling May 1, 1994

Reinventing Civil Society: The Rediscovery of Welfare Without Politics by David G. Green (London: Institute for Economic Affairs, 1993); 166 pages; £7.95. When President Clinton delivered his address to a joint session of Congress to outline his proposal for national health insurance, he compared his health plan with Franklin Roosevelt's introduction ...

Book Review: Reclaiming the American Right

by Richard M. Ebeling April 1, 1994

Reclaiming the American Right: The Lost Legacy of the Conservative Movement by Justin Raimondo (Burlingame, CA: Center for Libertarian Studies, 1993); 287 pages. In the first issue of the conservative quarterly Modern Age — Summer 1957 — there was an essay by Felix Morley entitled, "American Republic or American Empire?" His argument was that in taking on the role ...

Book Review: For Good and Evil

by Richard M. Ebeling March 1, 1994

For Good and Evil: The Impact of Taxes on the Course of Civilization by Charles Adams (New York: Madison Books, 1993); 530 pages; $29.95. In 1918, Austrian economist Joseph Schumpeter observed, "The fiscal history of a people is above all an essential part of its general history. An enormous influence on the fate of nations emanates from the economic bleeding ...

Book Review: Failure and Progress

by Richard M. Ebeling February 1, 1994

Failure and Progress: The Bright Side of the Dismal Science by Dwight R. Lee and Richard B. McKenzie (Washington, D.C.: Cato Institute, 1993); 163 pages; $10.95. In An Economist's Protest (1927), English economist Edwin Cannan remarked, "Modern civilization, nearly all civilization, is based on the principle of making things pleasant for those who please the market and unpleasant for ...

Book Review: Grassroots Tyranny

by Richard M. Ebeling January 1, 1994

Grassroots Tyranny: The Limits of Federalism by Clint Bolick (Washington, D.C.: The Cato Institute, 1993); 195 pages; $21.95 (cloth); $12.95 (paper). In his book The Vanishing Rights of the States (1926), former Solicitor General of the United States, James M. Beck, pointed out that "unhappily a written form of government is not a Gibraltar that can resist the waves, ...

Book Review: Lenin’s Tomb

by Richard M. Ebeling December 1, 1993

Lenin's Tomb: The Last Days of the Soviet Empire by David Remnick (New York: Random House, 1993); 576 pages; $25. In July 1919, during the Russian Civil War, the Russian philosopher P.D. Ouspensky sent an article from southern Russia to the British journal New Age. He said that he had no idea what the reader knew about what was happening in ...

Book Review: Market Liberalism

by Richard M. Ebeling November 1, 1993

Market Liberalism: A Paradigm for the 21st Century edited by David Boaz and Edward H. Crane (Washington, D.C.: Cato Institute, 1993); 404 pages; $15.95. As the 20th century approaches its end, the American people face the challenge of deciding their political and economic future. Socialism has been defeated. The experience of the ...