Fee Man's Library

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The complete Free Man's Library, by Henry Hazlitt, can now be found on the mises.org website. The exact address for the book is http://mises.org/books/freemanslibrary.pdf

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Bohm-Bawerk, Eugen von

Bohm-Bawerk, Eugen von. The Positive Theory of Capital. 1888. (Macmillan. 1891.) 428 pp.

One of the most brilliant and original contributions - if not the most brilliant and original - ever made to the theory of capital and interest. Bohm-Bawerk, declares the Encyclopedia of the Social Sciences, "was at a very early age one of the first to accept the teaching of Karl Menger, giving all his powers to the development and the defense of the subjective theory of value: it is to him that both the success and the formulation og the theory are largely due." According to Frank W. Taussig, The Positive Theory of Capital "is a landmark in the development of thought. As an intellectual performance, there are few books on economics in any language that can be ranked with it. One may not agree with all that is said, but the book bears the unmistakable impression of a great mind."

Bohm-Bawerk, Eugen von

Bohm-Bawerk, Eugen von. Karl Marx and the Close of His System. 1896, etc. London: Unwin. 221 pp.

Until the appearance of Socialism by Ludwig von Mises (q.v.), this was by far the best criticism of the economics of Karl Marx. For the points that it covers - chiefly the fallacies of the Marxian labor theory of value - it is still superb, unanswerable, and irreplaceable.

Blum, Walter, and Kalven, Harvey, Jr.

Blum, Walter, and Kalven, Harvey, Jr. The Uneasy Case for Progressive Taxation. University of Chicago Press. 1953. 107 pp.

"Progressive-tax theory has been due for an overhauling, and the authors do a highly competent job. ... The work is distinguished by penetrating analysis, comprehensive coverage of sources, and excellent documentation ... Rates high honors in the field." - Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science.

Berlin, Isaiah

Berlin, Isaiah. Historical Inevitability. Oxford University Press. 1954. 79 pp.

The main purpose of this lecture is to consider a tendency which has, in the West, been growing since the eighteenth century, to regard human history as the product of impersonal "forces" obeying "inexorable" laws; with the implied consequence that individual human beings are seldom responsible for bringing about situations for which they are commonly praised or blamed, since the real culprit is "the historical process" itself - which individuals can do little to influence. "A magnificent assertion of the reality of human freedom, of the role of free choice in history." - London Economist.

Berger-Perrin, Rene

Berger-Perrin, Rene. Vitalite Liberale. Paris: Editions SEDIF. 1953. 93 pp.

M. Berger-Perrin is Secretary General of L'Association de l'Enterprise a Capital Personnel. "After a quarter of a century of the predominance of authoritarian and collectivist ideas," he writes, "liberal thought today is reappearing with increased force and profundity." To prove this he has put together a little anthology of excerpts from more than fifty writers - French, English, American, German, Norwegian, Swiss, Dutch, mexican, etc. These include not only economists, but sociologists, hostorians, journalists, and businessmen.

Bentley, Elizabeth

Bentley, Elizabeth. Out of Bondage. Devin-Adair. 1951. 311 pp.

In this autobiographical account Miss Bentley, an American College girl, describes how she entered the Communist party, took part in its secret underground for ten years, and later collaborated with the Federal Bureau of Investigation after she left the party. Although her story on its appearance was ridiculed by some reviewers as "schoolgirlish" and "phoney," many of her most startling charges have been confirmed by later investigation.

Bentham, Jeremy

Bentham, Jeremy. Works. Edited by John Bowring. 1838-1843. Edinburgh: Tait. 11 vols.

"A considerable amount of Bentham is still worthy of study. He may be considered as the philosophic founder of modern British democracy. He held that the State exists to promote the individual happiness of the citizens who compose it and that ministers are the servants of the electors. For our purposes, the more important works are: (1) A Fragment on Government (1776), (2) Defense of Usury (1787), (3) An Introduction to the Principles of Morals and Legislation (1789). As a Utilitarian, an Individualist, and a reformer of laws and institutions, he deserves more attention than he now receives. Bentham is, like Locke, influential, but known chiefly through the work of his pupils and disciples." - PI.

Bentham, Jeremy, Defense of Usury. 1787. Many editions. 232pp.

Jeremy Bentham whose reputation has hitherto been that of a moralist, a founder of Utilitarianism, a logician, a great political and legal philosopher and reformer, was also, it is now being discovered, an outstanding economist. Until very recent years, by far the greater part of Bentham's economic work was completely unknown - locked up in chaotic and illegible manuscripts. The Royal Economic Society commissioned Dr. W. Stark to make a closer scrutiny of this material, which in 1952 was published in three volumes under the title Jeremy Bentham's Economic Writings (London: Allen and Unwin).

The Defense of Usury, however, which is included in these volumes, was published in 1787 and acquired immediate celebrity. Bentham was a great admirer of Adam Smith, whom he called "the father of political economy" and a writer of consummate genius." But he was not an uncritical admirer, and in the Defense of Usury, which he published eleven years after the appearance of The Wealth of Nations, he ventured to take the master to task for his inconsistency in approving so-called anti-usury laws while opposing government price-fixing in practically every other field.

"The Liberty of Bargaining in money matters," wrote Bentham, is "a species of liberty which has never yet found an advocate." Yet "fixing the rate of interest, being a coercive measure, and an exception to the general rule in favor of the enforcement of contracts, it lies upon the advocates of the measure to produce reasons for it." Examining the reasons that had been offered, Bentham rejected them as invalid, and proceeded to explain the positive "mischiefs" done by the anti-usury laws. He concluded that there is "no more reason for fixing the price of the use of money than the price of goods."

Benn, Sir Ernest

Benn, Sir Ernest. Confessions of a Capitalist. London: Hutchinson. 1925. 287 pp.

"A telling defense of individual initiative." - London Financial News. "A book which is unique in economic literature. Sir Ernest's pen is as vivid as his mind is fearless and independent. ... He tells us the most intimate details of his business. ... The whole is accompanied by a running line of argument on the fundamental problems of economics, which is set out so skillfully as to be as entertaining and arresting as the autobiographical details." - Lionel Robbins.

The Return to Laisser Faire. London: Ernest Benn. 1928. 221 pp.

An Argument against the extension of governmental activity and interference in England and a plea for a return to individualism. Public aid to housing and the growing burden of bureaucracy are special targets. Even reviewers hostile to the author's thesis paid tribute to "the entertaining style, the caustic wit, the arresting illustration."

The State the Enemy. London: Ernest Benn. 1953. 175 pp.

The author reviews the British experiment in state intervention and socialism all the way from Lloyd George, who inherited a budget of L100 million, to Attlee, who left it at L4,000 million, and sums up the record of failure: "Nationalization has not brought the expected smile to the face of the worker, full employment has not encouraged production, the management of money has not improved its quality; in fact, all the anticipations of the original Fabian Essays, the bases of modern Socialism, have proved disappointing, if not entirely fallacious." The style is lively, witty and aphoristic.

Benham, Frederic, and Boddy, F.M.

Benham, Frederic, and Boddy, F.M. Principles of Economics. Piman. 1947.

A textbook intended for an introductory course, to provide "the simple tools of modern economic analysis." Considerable attention is also given to the effects of government intervention upon a capitalistic system.

Benda, Julien

Benda, Julien. The Treason of the Intellectuals. Morrow. 1928. 244 pp.

This celebrated book first appeared in France under the title La Trahison des clercs. "That the intellectuals of the world have sold out to utilitarianism, leaving their proper devotion to truth and humanity, is the theme of Julien Benda's scorching analysis of the current leaders of thought. By taking on political passions, the intellectuals have played the game of the state, espoused war and conflict and lost that universalism which is their true reason for existence." - World Tomorrow.

Greatly needed today is a study with a title and theme similar to Benda's, which would not only cover developments in the twenty-five years since his book appeared, and describe the intellectual and sometimes quite literal treachery of some present-day physical scientists, but would cover the whole drift of our literateurs and other intellectual leaders over the last three-quarters of a century into a sentimental socialism - including Bernard Shaw, H.G. Wells, and the Webbs in England, Anatole France in France, and the corresponding figures in Germany and America. It would be important to analyze not merely individual figures but the mob psychology of our modern intellectuals and the ease with which they were blown about by the fashionable winds of doctrine.

BK: I do not like this type of critique. While individuals can sell out, it has been my experience that intellectuals believe what they believe to be true or right. No one sold out to utilitarianism anymore than they sold out to Kantianism. Furthermore, to claim someone believes in something simply because it is fashionable is to avoid the issue by calling someone a simpleton. This type of critique is not a critique at all. It assumes what needs to be proven - here that socialism is untenable. Furthermore, it assumes that the theory is so wrong, the only way to explain intellectual support is by nuanced references to payoffs and shallowness of character. The astute reader will notice that both of these claims are being levied against libertarian intellectuals today.

Beck, James Montgomery

Beck, James Montgomery. Our Wonderland of Bureaucracy. Macmillan. 1933. 290 pp.

A study, by a former Solicitor General of the United States, of the growth of bureaucracy in the federal government, and its destructive effect upon the Constitution.

Beaulieu, P. Leroy

Beaulieu, P. Leroy. Collectivism. London: Murray. 1908. 343 pp.

"An important analysis and criticism of Collectivism. That progress has always followed the substitution of individual ownership for collective ownership is clearly brought out. The relatively simple example of collective ownership in land is first dealt with and industrial collectivism is then examined. Schaffle's Quintessence of Socialism is taken as the only available source of information on the practical application of Collectivism, and yet Leroy Beaulieu succeeds in proving its inherent incapability of performing its duties mainly by quotations from the book itself.: - PI.

Baudin, Louis

Baudin, Louis. Les Incas du Perou. Paris: Librairie de Medicis. 1947. 188 pp.

A shorter study of the same subject that professor Baudin covered so thoroughly in his L'Empire Socialist des Incas, in 1928. When the Spaniards overcame the Incas of Peru they found that a socialist society had existed there in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries more totalitarian than perhaps any other known to history. Baudin analyzes this society and shows the consequences of that total socialization, many of which have remained with the native Indian population to the present day - the complete suppression of family sentiment, the immobilization of the individual, the disappearance of initiative and foresight, the complete petrification of life, the creation of a slave mentality. The book is written with great lucidity and vigor. Professor Baudin has a final chapter discussing the lessons of the empire of the Incas for our own time.

Baudin, Louis

Baudin, Louis. L'Aube d'un Nouveau Liberalisme. Paris: Librairie de Medicis. 1953. 220 pp.

An acute, scholarly, documented, but extremely readable account of "the dawn of a new liberalism" - a liberalism resting economically on faith in the free market and politically on individual freedom within a proper framework of law and morals. On pages 144 to 150 the author presents a useful survey of the literature of "neo-liberalism" and mentions several French-language works not included in the present bibliography.

Bastiat, Frederic

Bastiat, Frederic. The Law. 1850. Irvington, NY.: Foundation for Economic Education. 1950. 75 pp.

A separate Publication of a new translation (by Dean Russell) of one of Bastiat's most famous pamphlets. "Law," Bastiat maintains, "is solely the organization of the individual right of self-defense which existed before law was formalized. Law is justice." But the law has been perverted, and applied to annihilating the justice it was supposed to maintain. Protectionism, socialism and communism are all forms of legal plunder.

BK: This book is currently online and can be found in its entirety in the Freedom Library on the Foundation for Economic Education's website. This is the same translation Hazlitt refers to but with a new foreward by Walter Williams, an introduction by the President of FEE, Richard Ebeling, and an afterword by the editor of the Freeman, Sheldon Richman.

Bastiat, Frederic

Bastiat, Frederic. Economic Sophisms. 1843-1850. Many editions. 2 vols. 548 pp. 564 pp.

"Bastiat, a friend of Cobden, was opposed to all descriptions of public waste and government interference. Both by his writings and by his action as a politician, he waged inceasing war against Bureaucracy, Protection and Socialism. The book cited above gained a great reputation; it is very witty and written in an attractive style. The Petition of the Candlemakers against the sun, which interfered with their industry, is well known. Each short study attacks some economic error, or pleads for the removal of some restrictions. The truth to be brought out is often enforced by dialogue or some other lively method. Bastiat was an optimist. His view was that the various human impulses and activities would, under free competition in an honest and peaceful government, result in steady progress and increasing prosperity and happiness. This was the theme of his Harmonies Economiques, of which only the first volume appeared owing to his untimely death.
"His complete works with introductory biography were published in France in 1855 shortly after his death. They include many brilliant pamphlets and articles against the fallacies of State Socialism and Communism, which were rampart in Paris in the last years of Bastiat's life." - PI.
"In Sophismes Economiques we have the completest and most effective, the wisest and wittiest exposure of protectionism and its principles, reasonings, consequences which exists in any language. Bastiat was the opponent of socialism. In this respect also he had no equal among the economists of France." - Encyclopedia Americana.


BK: I have this two volume set and it is a joy to read.

Baster, A.S.J.

Baster, A.S.J. The Little Less. London: Methuen. 1947. 161 pp.

A witty and well-informed little book on " the political economy of restrictionism." It consists mainly of a satiric history of the "lunatic years" in Great Britain between 1919 and 1939, when various ingenious devices were introduced by which everybody expected to get a little more for producing a little less. The story is told under the separate chapter headings of Producing Less, Growing Less, Working Less, Transporting Less, and Trading Less. There are also chapters on The Politics of Restrictionism and The Political Economy of Freedom.

Bastable, C.F.

Bastable, C.F. The Theory of International Trade. 1897, etc. Macmillan. 197 pp.

This short book, which first appeared in 1897, long held the field as the standard exposition of the "classical" theory of foreign trade and policy. It is balanced, vigorous and lucid, and uncompromisingly defends freedom of trade. Bastable's "principle conclusion as to conduct" is that "Governments in their dealings with foreign trade should be guided by the much-vilified maxim of laissez faire. To avoid misinterpretation, let it be remembered that the precept rests on no theory of abstract right, or vague sentiment of cosmopolitanism, but on the well-founded belief that national interests are thereby advanced, and that even if we benefit others by an enlightened policy, we are ourselves richly rewarded."


BK: Sounds interesting, especially if it was the standard of its day. Even more interesting is the fact that many defenders of the free market find it necessary to discredit other advocates of the free market who do not have the same foundational beliefs. Open discourse will involve disagreement. However, it is one thing to argue a counter point and another simply to brush off other theories as abstract or vague. Ad Hominem is a falacy no matter who commits it.

Barber, Thomas H.

Barber, Thomas H. Where We Are At. Scribner's. 1950. 250 pp.

The author, who has been a lawyer, city official, and cowpuncher, describes his book as "a guide for enlightened conservatives." He urges removal of all price-fixing, subsidies and special group privileges and return to a free market economy.


BK: I've never read anything by a cowpuncher.