NOTE: I created this page in June 2012 and continued to update it through February 2014. However, I am no longer maintaining it. I leave it here as a record of some of the works that interested me during that time period.
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The following is an incomplete list of works on the subjects of political philosophy, economics and history that I have completely read, partially read, or not yet read, but intend to read in the future.
Works that I have completely read and written blog posts about:
- 10-25-12 post Albert Jay Nock’s book Our Enemy, The State
- 03-31-12 post Alfred G. Cuzan’s essay Do We Ever Really Get Out of Anarchy?
- 10-31-12 post David D. Friedman’s book The Machinery of Freedom
- 03-14-12 post David D. Friedman’s essay Private Creation and Enforcement of Law: A Historical Case
- 09-01-13 post Frank Karsten and Karel Beckman’s book Beyond Democracy
- 02-14-12 post Frederic Bastiat’s essay What Is Seen and What Is Not Seen
- 02-10-12 post Frederic Bastiat’s essay The Law
- 03-24-12 post Frederick Douglass’ book Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave
- 11-06-12 post Gary Chartier’s book The Conscience of an Anarchist
- 11-08-12 post Gerard Casey’s book Libertarian Anarchy: Against the State
- 06-24-12 post Gustave de Molinari’s essay The Production of Security
- 06-29-12 post Henry Hazlitt’s book Economics in One Lesson
- 07-16-12 post Jason Robert’s book A Sense of the World: How a Blind Man Became History’s Greatest Traveler
- 01-15-14 post and 02-26-14 post Larken Rose’s book The Most Dangerous Superstition (PDF available here)
- 08-19-13 post Michael Huemer’s book The Problem of Political Authority: An Examination of the Right to Coerce and the Duty to Obey (In the opinion of Bryan Caplan, it is “…the best book [in the genre of libertarian political philosophy]….” I agree, insofar as it is the best book on libertarian political philosophy that I have ever read. I highly recommend it. Here is a good preview.)
- 01-02-13 post Murray N. Rothbard’s book For a New Liberty
- 03-08-13 post Murray N. Rothbard’s essay War, Peace, and the State
- 08-30-13 post Solomon Northup’s book Twelve Years A Slave
- 03-11-12 post Terry L. Anderson’s and P. J. Hill’s essay An American Experiment in Anarcho-Capitalism
Works that I have completely read, but not yet written about in a blog post:
- Albert Jay Nock’s essay Anarchist’s Progress
- Bruce L. Benson’s book The Enterprise of Law: Justice Without the State
- Etienne de la Boetie’s essay The Politics of Obedience with a detailed introduction by Murray Rothbard
- Friedrich A. Hayek’s essay The Use of Knowledge in Society
- Gene Sharp’s book From Dictatorship to Democracy
- Henry David Thoreau’s essay Civil Disobedience
- Herbert Spencer’s essay The Right to Ignore the State
- John Hasnas’ essay The Myth of the Rule of Law
- Joseph R. Peden’s essay Stateless Societies: Ancient Ireland
- Lysander Spooner’s essay No Treason
- Michael Huemer’s paper In Praise of Passivity
- Michael Strong’s book Be the Solution: How Entrepreneurs and Conscious Capitalists Can Solve All the Worlds Problems
- Murray N. Rothbard’s essay The Anatomy of the State
- Murray N. Rothbard’s essay Society Without a State
- Paul Emile de Puydt’s essay Panarchy
- Robert P. Murphy’s two essays “Private Law” and “Private Defense”: Chaos Theory
- Roderick T. Long’s letter An Open Letter to the Peace Movement (video)
- Roderick T. Long’s essay Equality: The Unknown Ideal
- Roy A. Child’s letter An Open Letter to Ayn Rand (video)
- Smedley Butler’s essay War is a Racket
- Stefan Molyneux’s book Everyday Anarchy
- Stefan Molyneux’s book Practical Anarchy
- Stephan Kinsella’s monograph Against Intellectual Property
- Stephan Kinsella’s essay A Libertarian Theory of Contract: Title Transfer, Binding Promises, and Inalienability
- Voltairine de Cleyre’s essay Anarchism
- Wendy McElroy’s essay Murray N. Rothbard: Mr. Libertarian
- William Lloyd Garrison’s letter The Liberator: “To The Public”
- Countless articles, by people such as Jeffrey Tucker, Wendy McElroy, Anthony Gregory, Stephan Kinsella, Carl Watner, Bob Murphy, Douglas French, Darrell Anderson and many others
Works that I have partially read:
- Bryan Caplan’s FAQ Anarchist Theory FAQ (partially)
- Edward P. Stringham’s (editor) book Anarchy and the Law: The Political Economy of Choice (partially)
- Gary Chartier’s and Charles W. Johnson’s (editors) book Markets Not Capitalism (partially)
- Leo Tolstoy’s book War and Peace (partially)
- Mary J. Ruwart’s Healing Our World (partially)
- Robert A. Heinlein’s book The Moon is a Harsh Mistress (read slightly over half)
- Robert Higg’s book Crisis and Leviathan: Critical Episodes in the Growth of American Government (partially)
- Walter Block’s book The Privatization of Roads and Highways (partially)
Works that I have not yet read, but intend to read (maybe):
- Franz Oppenheimer’s book The State
- Hans-Hermann Hoppe’s book A Theory of Socialism and Capitalism
- Hans-Hermann Hoppe’s book Democracy: The God that Failed
- Herbert Spencer’s book The Man Versus the State
- Kevin Carson’s essay The Iron Fist Behind the Invisible Hand
- Michele Boldrin’s and David K. Levine’s book Against Intellectual Monopoly
- Morris and Linda Tannehill’s book The Market for Liberty
- Peter Ludlow’s (editor) book Crypto Anarchy, Cyberstates, and Pirate Utopias
- Randy E. Barnett’s book The Structure of Liberty: Justice and the Rule of Law
- Rose Wilder Lane’s book The Discovery of Freedom
- Samuel Edward Konkin III’s treatise New Libertarian Manifesto
- Thomas Paine’s book The Rights of Man
- Thomas Paine’s pamphlet Common Sense
Peace Requires Anarchy 
April 8, 2013 at 12:03 am
Just got a free copy of Robert Higgs’ Crisis and Leviathan with a one year subscription to the Independent Review. Can’t wait to crack it open. This is a great list.
April 8, 2013 at 3:48 am
Henry, I literally just finished reading Benson’s “The Enterprise of Law” today, and now I’m starting Higg’s “Crisis and Leviathan” since it’s the only other book on my list that I currently have a hard copy of (well actually, I have a hard copy of “Beyond Democracy” too, but I stopped half way through it since it wasn’t that great and I’m not in a rush to finish it). If you remember, let me know what you think of Higg’s book once you read it. I’ll share my thoughts in at least a blog post once I read it too if you’re interested. Thanks for the comment.
September 4, 2013 at 5:21 pm
Democracy: The God that Failed was impressive. Hoppe’s thought is so systematic. Very interesting position on immigration as well, which I am still at work reconciling (or perhaps understanding the differences of and deciding between) with the free immigration policy of Caplan and many others. Awesome website. I am starting to do some more serious libertarian reading and write reviews and thoughts about each work as well. Excellent list.
September 4, 2013 at 9:45 pm
Hi jsong0524,
I heard that Hoppe’s “Democracy–The God That Failed” contains some pretty brilliant ideas and arguments, but had the drawback of being repetitive at times. I’m not sure when I’ll get to reading it–there are many other books I think I’d rather read first.
I’m for open borders. Property owners should be in charge of determining who is allowed on their property. I haven’t Hoppe’s argument.