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Defending The Undefendable
Professor Block's book is in a new edition from the Mises Institute, completely reset and beautifully laid out in an edition worthy of its contents.
It is among the most famous of the great defenses of victimless crimes and controversial economic practices, from profiteering and gouging to bribery and blackmail. However, beneath the surface, this book is also an outstanding work of microeconomic theory that explains the workings of economic forces in everyday events and affairs.
Murray Rothbard explains why:
"Defending the Undefendable performs the service of highlighting, the fullest and starkest terms, the essential nature of the productive services performed by all people in the free market. By taking the most extreme examples and showing how the Smithian principles work even in these cases, the book does far more to demonstrate the workability and morality of the free market than a dozen sober tomes on more respectable industries and activities. By testing and proving the extreme cases, he all the more illustrates and vindicates the theory."
F.A. Hayek agreed, writing the author as follows: "Looking through Defending the Undefendable made me feel that I was once more exposed to the shock therapy by which, more than fifty years ago, the late Ludwig von Mises converted me to a consistent free market position. … Some may find it too strong a medicine, but it will still do them good even if they hate it. A real understanding of economics demands that one disabuses oneself of many dear prejudices and illusions. Popular fallacies in economic frequently express themselves in unfounded prejudices against other occupations, and showing the falsity of these stereotypes you are doing a real services, although you will not make yourself more popular with the majority."
It is among the most famous of the great defenses of victimless crimes and controversial economic practices, from profiteering and gouging to bribery and blackmail. However, beneath the surface, this book is also an outstanding work of microeconomic theory that explains the workings of economic forces in everyday events and affairs.
Murray Rothbard explains why:
"Defending the Undefendable performs the service of highlighting, the fullest and starkest terms, the essential nature of the productive services performed by all people in the free market. By taking the most extreme examples and showing how the Smithian principles work even in these cases, the book does far more to demonstrate the workability and morality of the free market than a dozen sober tomes on more respectable industries and activities. By testing and proving the extreme cases, he all the more illustrates and vindicates the theory."
F.A. Hayek agreed, writing the author as follows: "Looking through Defending the Undefendable made me feel that I was once more exposed to the shock therapy by which, more than fifty years ago, the late Ludwig von Mises converted me to a consistent free market position. … Some may find it too strong a medicine, but it will still do them good even if they hate it. A real understanding of economics demands that one disabuses oneself of many dear prejudices and illusions. Popular fallacies in economic frequently express themselves in unfounded prejudices against other occupations, and showing the falsity of these stereotypes you are doing a real services, although you will not make yourself more popular with the majority."
aboutLiberty Portal
Liberty Portal is your gateway for free markets and free thinking. We aggregate open-sourced content to promote and popularize important people and lessons within the liberty movement.
suggested
Adam Smith
The Theory of Moral Sentiments
Man’s moral nature is influenced by sentiment and sympathy. The human ability to sympathize forms the psychological basis of man’s desire to adhere to natural moral laws. Adam Smith explores ideas about individual freedom and self-interest, conscience and virtue, and a classic work of moral philosophy that remains relevant.
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Scott Horton
Hotter Than The Sun: Time To Abolish Nuclear Weapons
This book contains interviews conducted over more than a decade with experts of all descriptions — including Daniel Ellsberg, Seymour Hersh, Gar Alperovitz, Hans Kristensen, Gordon Prather, Joe Cirincione and more — about the threat of nuclear war between major and minor powers, the nuclear arms-industrial complex, the nuclear programs and weapons of the so-called “rogue states” of Iraq, Iran, Syria, Israel and North Korea, the bitter truths and eternal lessons of America’s nuclear bombing of Japan in World War II and the dedicated activists working to abolish the bomb for all time.
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Lloyd DeMause
The Origins of War in Child Abuse
Lloyd DeMause has made major contributions to the study of Psychohistory which is the study of the psychological motivations of historical events. Psychohistory seeks to understand the emotional origin of the social and political behavior of groups and nations, past and present. Its subject matter is childhood and the family (especially child abuse), and psychological studies of anthropology and ethnology. Audiobook read by Stefan Molyneux.
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