Book Reviews

Michael Huemer takes on wokeness and other progressive shibboleths—and he wins with an easy takedown.

Michael Huemer’s book Progressive Myths takes the progressive worldviews to task, exposing them for their deceitfulness. As usual, the narratives do not fit the truth.

Harry Jaffa suggested that Americans should adopt a “civil religion,” with Lincoln as a quasi-divine figure. This, of course, makes the state into a quasi-divine institution. 

Marx is often portrayed as motivated by love of the working class, but, starting from the time he was a university student, he displayed contempt and hatred for the masses he deemed beneath him.

The world is awash in debt bubbles, but politicians continue to spend, which requires even more central bank intervention—and more bubbles. Max Rangeley has edited The Age of Debt Bubbles, which details the dangers we face and how to stop the current madness.

Rose Wilder Lane, known for her many writings, also has been a favorite of libertarians. In this week‘s Friday Philosophy, David Gordon reviews a book based on her columns in the Pittsburgh Courier from 1942-45 on race and race relations.

Auron MacIntyre has amassed a following in conservative circles, and David Gordon notes that while MacIntyre makes some good points on governance, he has much to learn about how free markets work.

Entrepreneurs come from all walks of life and from different social and ethnic groups. Lipton Matthews reviews Jean-Claude Escalante’s From Indentureship to Entrepreneurship, which chronicles the rise of a successful entrepreneur who came from humble beginnings.

There are two ways in which people in a community can coexist. One is by peaceful cooperation, and the other is by taking what others have produced.

Ruchir Sharma, a non-Austrian, gets it right. He lends strong support to the Austrian position that because competition moves resources to where they best fulfill consumer demand, the government must not interfere with this process by bailing out businesses that fail.