Rating: 
Summary: If you read only one book on Libertariaism read this!,
Review: The history, logic and promise of Libertarian thought are sometimes hard to describe to those whose only political education has been in a public school civics class. This book lays out the beliefs that define a Libertarian and more importantly, the arguments to back them up when confronted by non-believers.
It is not often that an author fulfills the promise of a book's title as completely as David Boaz has done. I read a library copy first and liked it so much I now must buy one to share!
Rating: 
Summary: A great introduction to the principles of liberty
Review: The Libertarian Party has piqued my interest for quite some time. While I read a number of issues of Liberty magazine, I had never read a systematic introduction to the topic. This book provided precisely that. I was pleased with the clear and organized way that Boaz presented the topic to the lay reader. This book gives plenty of food for thought, and provides a springboard for future study of Libertarianism.
Rating:
Summary: Libertarianism 101
Review: This book is a great introduction to Libertarianism for those who are new to the ideology or for those who are just curious. Boaz gives a general introduction to libertarian principles. From here many readers, like myself, will branch out to further reading.
Rating:
Summary: Exactly what the Title States, "A Primer"
Review: This book is exactly what the title states, "A Primer". This is not a complete text of Libertarian ideas or philosophy. It is a well written introduction to Libertarian principles. After reading this book, you are much better prepared to read more extensive Libertarian texts that go more in depth into the defense of Libertarian ideas. The book does give sources for most quotes and statistics, but does not provide a complete citation which makes it difficult to check out the accuracy. Overall, this book is worth reading and will wet your appetite for Libertarian ideas.
Rating:
Summary: A Important Work That No American Citizen Should Miss
Review: This is an important work which describes the Libertarian principles in a very readable and interesting style. One of the best features of the book is that Boaz explains the history of this thinking in detail, and mentions names of contributors and people who are (were) well known Libertarians. You might be surprised at the list. He mentions Hayek, a Nobel Laureate in Economics, and how his work is related to the Libertarian ideas. What is interesting is that Libertarian principles are mostly common sense, are built into the U.S. Constitution already, and are consistent with Judio-Christian teachings for the most part. You cannot go wrong by buying and reading this book. I predict that many people will be talking about this subject in the next 1 - 2 years. If you liked this book, you might also want to order Hayeks book titled "The Return to Serfdom". If you think that our country is begining to smell like a Socialist state, with the endless welfare handouts in one form or another, high crime rates, and government spending taking a larger and larger cut of your salary (currently 47% overall), then this book and others like it (there are several others on Amazon.com) are especially important reading.
Rating:
Summary: OUTSTANDING Primer
Review: Written with a straightforward style, David Boaz has offered an easy-to-read "primer" into the philosophical tradition that this country was founded upon: The idea that each citizen of the United States of America be granted ultimate autonomy over herself in conjuction with a minimalist state charged with her protection from those who refuse to live lawfully. Boaz not only outlines the main ideas behind libertarianism (once referred to as "liberalism," but in the traditional, "classic" sense of the term), but does so with little tidbits of history here and there, resulting in a book that nicely synthesizes the two into a coherent whole. Although it seems to be almost cliche anymore, this book really is "readible" and fun to boot. One of the common misconceptions of libertarianism is that their conception of freedom is too broad. Boaz does an excellent service to dispell this notion with the publication of this book. Libertarianism is not only a very old idea, but one that I think will indeed resurface (and is resurfacing) and come to the fore in the comming decades as the tide turns away from "statist," "big-government" conceptions of how this country ought to function. Gone are the days when starry-eyed "utopians" rule the day, for those who are truly rational possess the ability to see that only a truly liberty-maximizing state complimented by a republican representative government can survive in a world of evolving norms and values. The key to understanding the libertarian perspective, and perhaps the main theme of this book, is the realization that human nature is what it is, and that we need to conform our governmental system AROUND it in a way that "bridles" or "harnesses" it to work for us, maximizing everyone's happiness as much as possible. The problem with more utopian-mined statists is a failure to understand this, coupled with the desire to force others to capitulate to their own ideas (i.e., the "I know what's good for you better than you do" type). Libertarianism recognizes the folly of such a view. Libertarianism to political philosophy is basically what capitalism is to economics. The two go together like peanut-butter-and-jelly, and the sooner our more utopian minded friends realize this, the better off we will all be. As for Boaz himself, this book is written in a very straightforward way. But I don't think that this style is reason to complain about "elegance" (see Publisher's Weekly review above). Matters of beauty in literary syle is one thing, to be sure, but if Boaz lacks elegance is makes up for it in eloquence, for the book is certainly both persuasive and powerful. The last thing I want to emphasize is that this book is indeed a primer, that is, a basic introduction to libertarianism. Readers expecting anything more will likely be disappointed, but those who are genuinely considering libertarianism for the first time will be very satisfied by this warm welcome to libertarian ideas.
Rating:
Summary: OUTSTANDING Primer
Review: Written with a straightforward style, David Boaz has offered an easy-to-read "primer" into the philosophical tradition that this country was founded upon: The idea that each citizen of the United States of America be granted ultimate autonomy over herself in conjuction with a minimalist state charged with her protection from those who refuse to live lawfully. Boaz not only outlines the main ideas behind libertarianism (once referred to as "liberalism," but in the traditional, "classic" sense of the term), but does so with little tidbits of history here and there, resulting in a book that nicely synthesizes the two into a coherent whole. Although it seems to be almost cliche anymore, this book really is "readible" and fun to boot. One of the common misconceptions of libertarianism is that their conception of freedom is too broad. Boaz does an excellent service to dispell this notion with the publication of this book. Libertarianism is not only a very old idea, but one that I think will indeed resurface (and is resurfacing) and come to the fore in the comming decades as the tide turns away from "statist," "big-government" conceptions of how this country ought to function. Gone are the days when starry-eyed "utopians" rule the day, for those who are truly rational possess the ability to see that only a truly liberty-maximizing state complimented by a republican representative government can survive in a world of evolving norms and values. The key to understanding the libertarian perspective, and perhaps the main theme of this book, is the realization that human nature is what it is, and that we need to conform our governmental system AROUND it in a way that "bridles" or "harnesses" it to work for us, maximizing everyone's happiness as much as possible. The problem with more utopian-mined statists is a failure to understand this, coupled with the desire to force others to capitulate to their own ideas (i.e., the "I know what's good for you better than you do" type). Libertarianism recognizes the folly of such a view. Libertarianism to political philosophy is basically what capitalism is to economics. The two go together like peanut-butter-and-jelly, and the sooner our more utopian minded friends realize this, the better off we will all be. As for Boaz himself, this book is written in a very straightforward way. But I don't think that this style is reason to complain about "elegance" (see Publisher's Weekly review above). Matters of beauty in literary syle is one thing, to be sure, but if Boaz lacks elegance is makes up for it in eloquence, for the book is certainly both persuasive and powerful. The last thing I want to emphasize is that this book is indeed a primer, that is, a basic introduction to libertarianism. Readers expecting anything more will likely be disappointed, but those who are genuinely considering libertarianism for the first time will be very satisfied by this warm welcome to libertarian ideas.
Rating: 
Summary: naive and facile advocacy of libertarianism
Review: _Libertarianism: A Primer_ is a remarkable piece of work: it is the longest "short order propaganda" pamphlet I've ever read. This is not a serious piece of writing: I understand that it's an "outreach" book, but as one it fails miserably; that is, it rarely attempts to rebut common objections to its doctrine, and when it does it does so in infuriatingly simplistic terms. I have never seen so many important philosophical questions addressed and dismissed with such pithy arrogance bordering on, well, stupidity. The way Boaz would have you believe it, dozens of philosophers much smarter than him didn't know what they were doing, and when he sets up straw man perversions of their arguments, he can knock them down with ease. Then there are the omissions. The most glaring I remember was Chapter 2, in which capitalism from 1820-1920 is painted as next to paradise, a period rudely interrupted by government intervention, unfairly suppressing free market capitalism. He passes over in complete silence (not a paragraph, not a sentence, not even a paranthetical remark) the terrible working conditions and inhumane treatment of workers that only ended with the coming of unions, strikes, labor and minimum wage laws, and so on, none of them enacted, much less encouraged, by capitalists. Does Boaz honestly expect us to believe it was the likes of Carnegie (that great humanitarian who used hired thugs to destroy one of the early unions in 1892) who improved the plight of the worker? Who would be so naive as to fall for that? A lot of people, it seems. I really would be interested in finding a convincing book advocating libertarianism. What I've read so far (by Ayn Rand and Boaz) is simply obnoxious, morally repellent, dependent on the distortion of history, and intellectually immature. There's a lot of nice rhetoric about "natural rights" in this book, sure to impress those unused to that kind of thing (the same way Hubbard impresses budding Scientologists with identical rhetoric), but not a single serious objection to laissez-faire capitalism in this entire book. Sure, plenty of terse, impatient rebuttals of non-existent complaints, but nothing that made me consider becoming a libertarian. Aren't there any good books advocating libertarianism? Seriously, I'd like to hear about them.
|
