Here are six books that you need to read to understand libertarianism and be able to explain it to other people.
There are no links if you click on any of these books. To purchase, consider alternatives to Amazon and Audible. Also, consider ordering from bookstores owned by people of color.
#1: Basic Economics by Thomas Sowell (least important)
It’s a book that goes over Austrian economics or the Chicago school. Thomas Sowell is well known in the libertarian community, both on the left and the right, leaning libertarians. He generally leans more toward the right. He’s definitely going to be a right-winger type when it comes to libertarians.
#2: Manufacturing Consent by Noam Chomsky.
Chomsky is very well known. He wrote quite a few books, but Manufacturing Consent is one of his well-known books. He’s been called a left-libertarian, maybe even in the socialist category of libertarian. Some people might even call him a communist, but he’s not really a communist.
Some American libertarians will tell you about the problems with the state interfering too much in your life and taking away your liberty. Chomsky will talk more about corporations doing that, taking away your liberties.
#3: The Conservative Mind by Russell Kirk
The problem is that a lot of libertarians believe that libertarianism is just an extension of conservatism or American conservatism.
But in Kirk’s book, which some people believe is a conservative, he displays how modern conservatism is nothing like the conservatism of the past and how conservatism has basically died.
What we have now is neoliberalism. In this book, we see how conservatism came to the point where it died, and now we have left liberals and right liberals.
#4: Liberalism Ludwig van Mises
If you read anything from Mises, this is good for libertarians. He’s pretty much-invented libertarianism in the modern age.
#5: The Libertarian Mind by David Boas
You need to read this book if you’re a libertarian. It’s the definitive book.
#6: The Open Society And Its Enemies by Karl Popper (most important)
This is an amazing book by Karl Popper. In it he describes what he calls the open society and the closed society. George Soros named his foundation after this book.
In the book, Popper defeats historicism and state control. The Open Society is about democracy, pluralism, and individual rights. It’s about internationalism. It’s not necessarily about nationalism, but it is about internationalism and cosmopolitanism.
It’s about trade, capitalism, and being okay with being an individual in a world. Not necessarily being part of a nation and not being part of a group but being part of humanity. An open society is a humanitarian society.
A closed society is an authoritarian or totalitarian society where the state controls your life and everything you do in it. Popper talks about Hegel and Plato and how they brought about the idea of totalitarianism and authoritarianism.
Happy reading.
Productivity Hack: It is considered reading if you purchase and listen to a book. I listen to a book at two times the speed to get through it as long as I can understand it. If it’s a book that’s super incredible, and only you’ll know that, I slow it down.