Forgive me if this has already been asked. I searched for this, but all I found was links to very long book lists. While that's appreciated, I would like something a bit more concise. Though I would like to read an entire large book list such as that, there is a time constraint involved here, so if possible I would prefer to first read the ones which are commonly regarded as being the best so I can soak in the best/most knowledge on the subject as soon as possible.
I'm hoping that everyone can just post a few which they regard as being the best, their favorite, etc., and then I can make some decisions from that based on how often certain books get mentioned.
I have already gathered that For a New Liberty is commonly placed high on such a list. How about The Market for Liberty?
http://www.vforvoluntary.com/books/economics/
-> Principles of Economics. Getting down to what is means to be economizing. Once you get that, you can get it all.
No Treason: The Constitution of No Authority - Lysander Spooner
The only one worth following is the one who leads... not the one who pulls; for it is not the direction that condemns the puller, it is the rope that he holds.
I really liked Chaos Theory by Bob Murphy. The Market For Liberty is good too. The *best* imo is For a New Liberty.
The Private Production of Defense by Hans Hermann Hoppe.
The Machinery of Freedom by David Freidman
The Voluntary City editted by David Beito
The Not So Wild Wild West by Anderson & Hill
Law of the Somalis by Notten
I'd skip Chaos Theory by Murphy actually. If you have the time read the pdf, but it doesn't feel up to par with Murphy's standards.
The only thing that hasn't been listed here is Power and Market by Rothbard. It's very economic/jargony, but it's probably the best anti-interventionist book ever written. It's like economics in one lesson on steroids.
Anthony de Jasay, Against Politics
FA Hayek, The Fatal Conceit
Frank Chodorov, The Rise and Fall of Society
Anarchy, State, Utopia by Robert Nozick
For A New Liberty by Murray Rothbard
The State by Anthony De Jassay
Would probably be the "big four" historical ancap treaties. All offer a different perspective
Some major pre Ancap works:
Our Enemy The State by Albert jay Nock
Road to Serfdom by F.A. Hayek
Liberalism by Ludwig von Mises
"As in a kaleidoscope, the constellation of forces operating in the system as a whole is ever changing." - Ludwig Lachmann
"When A Man Dies A World Goes Out of Existence" - GLS Shackle
Vive,
I thought the Nozick book was a direct criticism of anarchist theory and wrote on the need for a minarchist state, as does The Road to Serfdom to a lesser extent?
Also, how could I have forgotten? A lesser known but still excellent composition of anarchist legal thought is Anarchy and the Law.
My bad,
I usually first think of it as a critique of Rawls - and instead of filng it under "libertarian", whichI should have done - I filed under "ancap" in my head for some reason.. You're right though, it does attack ancap. It is however a seminal libertarian work
The Road To Serfdom I filed under "pre ancap". I thinkthat book is very responsible for helping foster libertarian thoughts, before there was an actual libertarian movement. It's one of those "cross over / big tent" revolutionary books
Also,
I should mention - I have only skimmed pieces of Anarchy State Utopia and For a New Liberty and Ihave never read the Machinary of Freedom
I justmentioned them becauseas far as libertarian political thinking goes, I think those are historicaly seen as the most seminal books in the field.
The only thing that hasn't been listed here is Power and Market by Rothbard.
I'd rather people not avoid making repeat mentions of books. Repeat mentions by multiple people will signal to me that it's probably one of the better ones. :)
Thanks to everyone for the suggestions thus far.
Oh, well then read For a New Liberty. Read it read it read it. I also heard that "The Ethics of Liberty" had valuable insights beyond an ethical standpoint but I can't say for sure because I haven't read it.
The Machinery of Freedom is good but it's not to the same standard as FANL or most of the other things mentioned.
But as far as a major non Austrian book on Ancap, what would you reccomend? Wouldn't Machinery be the most famous counter Ancap manifesto?
Oh also, and back to "Austrians":
I haven't seen anyone recommend Democracy the God that Failed by Hoppe. I haven't read it, but have read a lot about it (it isnt free). It's contraversial, but it has provoked a lot of discussions, and is a major work that deals with ancap political theory.
PS:
This is Vive la Insurrection
I liked Anatomy of the State to get you hooked, and then add in a little of For a New Liberty, and top it off with Chaos Theory
“Since people are concerned that ‘X’ will not be provided, ‘X’ will naturally be provided by those who are concerned by its absence.""The sweetest of minds can harbor the harshest of men.”
http://voluntaryistreader.wordpress.org
"But as far as a major non Austrian book on Ancap, what would you recommend? Wouldn't Machinery be the most famous counter Ancap manifesto?"
Oh for sure, but I think this might also say something about just how many manifestos there are. I can't say that there are very many out there that I would recommend, most of them are historical works which you could find in Anarchy and the Law. I've also read a good piece on Somalia. Someone really needs to make a full list of such books, all of them, because they are so rare.
But the fact is that the Austrian school was the progenitor, and current harbinger of anarcho-capitalism
"I haven't seen anyone recommend Democracy the God that Failed by Hoppe."
1. Is the book really a book on anarcho-capitalism?
2. I haven't read the book, but I still consider the most important book written by an Austrian in the last decade because it did two thing, first of all it added something to Austrian theory, something which really hasn't been done nearly enough since Rothbard wrote MES, indeed the last tract tome which really added much to Austrian theory (except for the one in question) Was De Soto's book. Second of all it did something which has been urgently required since the day that Mises wrote human action, and something that no one except Hayek, Mises and arguably Schumpeter did anything with, and that's that is spreading the praxeological method on to more "sociological" matters, examining the non-market entities of society, more than simply the market under various conditions and socialism. I hope this kind of investigation of "Austrian Sociology" continues and expands. It is not only economics which is subject to praxeological law, but rather all human things.
EDIT
Also, I enjoy your continual flip flopping on accounts :P
Is the book really a book on anarcho-capitalism?
Definitely.
I thought it was specifically about the incentives of democracy and monarchy?
After he discusses the flaws of both democracy and monarchy (arguing that the former is worse than the latter), Hoppe offers an alternative to both systems - 'natural order', i.e. anarchy. This takes up at least half of the book.
Like I said I haven't read DTGTF, But the main the main and superficial thrust seems to be somthing like this:
It looks at the institutions of Democracy and Monarchy, and shows how the structures of each are bad - but how Monarchy mimics the market set up and has a private property based system , and shows how it is more condusive to a natural sociological arrangment. It is ultimately a case for Ancap, I think
Oh and one more awesome book recommendation that no one has mentioned yet, that I can't believe I forgot The Invisible Hook by Peter Leeson. It's a really fun read.
lol, I'm not