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by Joseph
on 10/3/2025
from North Richland Hills
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I got a copy of the Mises Institute edition of Murray N. Rothbard's essay at a local Half-Price Books, and I do not regret the purchase. Rothbard using Albert Jay Nock as a reference was my first encounter with that man and his work, and I bought a copy of Nock's "Our Enemy The State" not long after.
The essay itself is a classic, timeless critique of State Power and their methods of control, and should be read by everyone.
The book itself is a fine-made Perfect Paperback small enough to carry in a pocket or bag, and the text formatting is up to par with the best.
All in all, a worthy edition of a worthy Essay.
- JBD |
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by Andy
on 6/2/2016
from Wyoming
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This is a excellent essay with no fluff and filler the first time I opened it up the content jumped out at me I related other information to all the concepts in the book and and couldn't put it down tell it was done... wow. I picked up another 5 copies and after that when i didn't get them back i picked up another 25 copies I keep handing them out to questioning minds. The nice thing about this is the SIZE, only one person has told me they haven't finished it. try that with Human Action it took me half a year to finish. |
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by Michael
on 10/3/2010
from Tamarac
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Some background on this essay.
First published in "Rampart Journal" back in 1965 and reprinted in "The Libertarian Alternative" edited by Tibor Machan.
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by Jamie
on 5/19/2010
from Chester
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Just superb in its clarity in explaining the state and why its existence is quite frankly just stupid. Very short so if you thinking about it you should probably get the collection of essays in Egalitarianism a revolt against nature. But once again just pure awesome and engaging till the very end. |
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by Richard
on 11/17/2009
from Nottingham
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This is an essential Rothbard read. Mr Libertarian rejects the democratic myth that "we are the state," and instead directs us to those that manage, maintain, and benefit from the ruling aparatus. He explains how the state is an essentially paraistic set of social arrangements that feed off exploitation, via "the politicial means" to wealth, rather than "the economic means," and how it relies on the efforts of opinion makers to ensure its continued existence, through developing a statist hegemony that lovers of liberty must reverse. More importantly, though, Rothbard then proceeds to demonstrate how state power can never be limited, for so long as a branch of government has an exclusive monopoly on deciding whether the actions of any other branch are "constitutional," it will always tend to do so in its own favour.
This reproduction of the classic essay is only flawed, though, by not being anarchist enough! The editors should have included Rothbard's essay "Society Without The State |
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