At last, _The Ethics of Liberty_ by Murray N. Rothbard is again
available. This treatise, first published in 1982 in defense of
natural rights and private property, is Rothbard's most extended
treatment of the subject, but it has been out-of-print since
1984.
This new edition, from New York University Press, features an
extended analysis of Rothbard's contribution to political economy
by his student and colleague Hans-Hermann Hoppe, a new bibliography,and a
new index. Hoppe compares Rothbard's theory
of the pure private property society with John Rawls's defense of
redistribution and Robert Nozick's early advocacy of the minimal state.
Rothbard covers the theory of rights as well as applications to
criminal justice, the market for protection, family law, boycotts,
animal "rights," lifeboat situations, land monopolies, relations
between states, immigration, and free speech. He discusses
utilitarian economics, the unanimity principle, "negative liberty,"
Hayek on coercion, and the Nozickian state. Finally, Rothbard delves
into the intellectual and political strategy for achieving liberty.
The book, an uncompromising philosophical defense of the foundation
of a free society, is 308+xlix pp. and beautifully hardbound. It
is available for $28 (postpaid in the U.S.) from the Mises
Institute, Auburn University, Auburn, AL, 36849. Inquire about
foreign postage. Phone 334-844-2500; fax 334-844-2583; credit card
orders can be sent to mises@mises.org
Says NYU Press:
"What distinguishes Rothbard's book is the manner in which it roots
the case for freedom in the concept of natural rights and applies it
to a host of practical problems. An economist by profession,
Rothbard here proves himself equally at home with philosophy. And
while his conclusions are radical--that a social order that strictly
adheres to the rights of private property must exclude the
institutionalized violence inherent in the state--his applications
of libertarian principles prove surprisingly practical for a host of
social dilemmas, solutions to which have eluded alternative
traditions."