I'm looking for something light to gently introduce someone who is against abuses such as Monsanto, environmental destruction, and who sees crime in the extreme gap between rich and poor in poor countries.
The reading is going to have to start from a base that the reader is already familiar with; if it starts off with heavy an-cap theory, the reader is probably going to reject it out of hand.
Does anyone have any recommendations? I honestly can't think of any off the top of my head, except for maybe a Ron Paul book. I didn't start from the position of socialist, though.
De Soto - Mystery of Capital
Norberg - In Defense of Global Capitalism
Google Monsanto together with libertarian critique or something; you are bound to find something.
Give him the Cafe Hayek blog.
The state is not the enemy. The idea of the state is.
Good idea on the blogs, actually! I'll let him explore those for a bit before I pass along something heavier.
Walter Block's interview on environmentalism which he did while at the Fraser Institute.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DrTsaSUFfpo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y4p-BQInK-g
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NB1O2K411gM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4WhqTtil7Ls
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cm0A5eoY8Tk
Bear in mind, Monsanto is able to do what it does because of the horrendous patent system and collusion with state interests which encourage corporate agri business and discourage market place diversity when it comes to food. Actually, this would be a great place for an Austrian to do analysis, food is a much more personal topic than central banking.
I like Mises Daily articles that are the "go to" article on a particular subject.
Bob Murphy's recent deconstruction of the Venus Project serves as a good example.
Reisman's health care white-paper is my go-to health-care article.
A similar article is needed on the subject of GMO, Monsanto, and Patents from a libertarian perspective.
For leftists, I like Mary Ruwart's Healing Our World
http://www.ruwart.com/Healing/rutoc.html
http://www.amazon.com/Healing-Our-World-Age-Aggression/dp/0963233661
In my experience, sending people Mises Dailies convinces them I'm nothing but a right-wing extremist. The waters need to be a bit warmer before I go there. However, I do like the venus project article and of course I'm going to be recommending some articles once I feel the waters are a bit warmer ;)
I wholeheartedly agree with you, liberty student. Thanks for sharing those videos, I'm gonna check them out.
NewLiberty, I haven't read that before. That might be just the perfect subject for my socialist friend. I'm going to check out the site; thanks for sharing that.
For issues about labor, unemployment, and the income gap: http://mises.org/media.aspx?action=subject&ID=13. They'll learn a lot about why the income gap is so great in some parts of the world and how it has nothing to do with the free market by studying Austrian economics, as I'm sure you well know.