Book Reports is a reference to vital books on freedom, from the classics to contemporary publications.  To give perspective to news events, points noted in Book Reports will be used in Chalk Talk and In Real Time .  Whenever possible, those blog posts will be linked back to Book Reports submission with the fuller point of the author noted.

Additions to Book Reports will be added as frequently as you and I can supply them.  Have you read a good book lately?  Submit your report and contribute to our discussions.   Please contact Adam prior to submitting your report: adam@freedomlessons.net

Submissions are listed alphabetically by author's last name.

The Constitution of the United States of America (Submitted by Adam)
We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.   Click here to read more

The Federalist Papers   (Submitted by Adam)
The Federalist Papers offer keen insight into the original intent of the framers of the Constitution and their understanding of the purposes of the federal government under the Constitution.  As a book, The Federalist Papers was the first and one of the most insightful commentaries on the U.S. Constitution.  These papers offer the reader sharp perspective on human nature, human institutions, freedom, power, and government.  "If men were angels, no government would be necessary..."
Click here to read more

Milton Friedman's Capitalism and Freedom (Submitted by Adam)
"Freedom is a rare and delicate plant.  Our minds tell us, and history confirms, that the great threat to freedom is the concentration of power." (From the Introduction)

Friedman lays out a strong historical and empirical argument concerning economics and liberty: competitive capitalism and freedom go hand-in-hand.  It is impossible to eradicate freedom in the marketplace without diminishing individual and political freedom.  Click here to read more

F.A. Hayek's The Constitution of Liberty  (Submitted by Adam)
The Constitution of Liberty represents Hayek's ambitious task of approaching economic problems "through a comprehensive restatement of the basic principles of freedom." (p.3)  As such, this valuable work on freedom brings the reader to appreciate the premises of both the pro-freedom philosophies since the Enlightenment and the anti-freedom prejudices that have impeded the growth of free societies in the West.  A full view of the history of freedom and its struggle with anti-freedom is clearly presented to the reader.    Click here to read more

 F.A. Hayek’s The Road to Serfdom (Submitted by Adam)
As a native of Austria in the late nineteenth-century, Hayek saw first-hand the growth of central planning ideology, born of philosophies hostile to individual freedom and free market capitalism. First published during World War II, Serfdom details in clear terms those totalitarian ideas and attitudes. 

Hayek provides a clear warning that when societies disregard free markets, individual freedom, and limiting the power of the state, then turn to the siren song of socialism, serfdom awaits: "Few are ready to recognize that the rise of fascism and naziism was not a reaction against the socialist trends of the preceding period, but a necessary outcome of those tendencies." (p.6)  Europe's rejection of nineteenth-century classical liberalism laid the way for her twentieth-century totalitarianism.    Click here to read more

 Henry Hazlitt's Economics in One Lesson: The Shortest and Surest Way to Understand Basic Economics   (Submitted by Adam)
"Economics is haunted by more fallacies than any other study known to man." 

Economics In One Lesson offers a concise statement in the first principles of economics and their real life effects when applied through policy.  He also reminds us of the unintended effects when those same principles are denied or forgotten.
Click here to read more 

 Ludwig von Mises' Liberalism: The Classical Tradition (Submitted by Adam)
Liberalism: The Classical Tradition is Mises' effort to explain and defend the historical movement of individual freedom, from the era between the Napoleonic Wars and the First World War to the time of its publication in 1927.  Classical liberalism, as Mises carefully explains, is the historical movement that favors the political and economic policies that recognize the individual and his rights of freedom, property, equality, and life.  History is not a story of freedom; the classical liberal understands man's lust for power and prefers the alternative of freedom.  Click here to read more

 Ludwig von Mises' The Anti-Capitalistic Mentality Submitted by Adam)
"A nation is the more prosperous today the less it has tried to put obstacles in the way of the spirit of free enterprise and private initiative."  (From the introduction.)

Why, then, do people who enjoy the high standard of living resulting from free market capitalism dislike, or even despise, capitalism?   Click here to read more

 Jim Powell's FDR's Folly: How Roosevelt and His New Deal Prolonged the Great Depression
FDR was president for twelve years.  His political party enjoyed large majorities in Congress during his presidency.  He did nearly everything he wished to do with his New Deal.  And yet, under his watch the depression became Great, the worst in our history.  Why, then, is the New Deal most times remembered fondly, as if it were a success?  Click here to read more (Submitted by Adam)

Thomas Sowell's A Conflict of Visions: Ideological Origins of Political Struggles (Submitted by Adam)
In Conflict Sowell takes on the task of explaining the ideological underpinnings of the philosophic worldviews that form the intellectual bases of our political opinions.  Behind each political view--"conservative" or "liberal"--lies the worldviews concerning justice, truth, human nature, knowledge, reason, and power.  And beneath these worldviews are deep-rooted social visions, what Sowell calls the "silent shapers of our thoughts."  Click here to read more

Thomas Sowell's Basic Economics: A Common Sense Guide to the Economy (Submitted by Adam)
Are you a citizen and could use an experienced mentor on all matters of economics?  If so, study Basic Economics.

Sparing the everyday reader charts, tables, academic jargon, and complex equations, Sowell lays out in plain terms the fundamental of free market economics.  Click here to read more  

Thomas Sowell's The Vision of the Anointed: Self-Congratulation as a Basis for Social Policy (Submitted by Adam)
Ever wonder why elites in academia, the media, and government insist we keep trying the same redistributionist, collectivist, freedom-destroying schemes in spite of the historic fact that socialism fails every time it is tried?  Thomas Sowell addresses this question in The Vision of The Anointed.  Click here to read more

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