Fall 2024 Virtual Mises Book Club

In September 2024, undergraduate students will have an opportunity to participate in the Fall Mises Book Club, a program that promotes deep reading in Austrian economics.

The reading for this book club will be Murray Rothbard’s Egalitarianism as a Revolt Against Nature and Other Essays. This year marks its 50th anniversary.

Rothbard smashes myth after myth in this collection of essays. In the first essay, Rothbard questions the goals of egalitarianism as not only impractical and extreme, but evil and dangerous. He says, “The egalitarian world would necessarily be a world of horror fiction—a world of faceless and identical creatures, devoid of all individuality, variety, or special creativity.” The political left champions “equality” and uses it as a fortification of their supposed moral high ground, but this goal is a rejection of the reality of humanity and nature itself. It serves as a pretext for all kinds of State violations of liberty and it leads to totalitarianism.

As David Gordon points out in his introduction, this collection of essays “displays remarkable organic unity: the book is much more than the sum of its parts. Points made in the various essays included in the book mesh together to form a consistent worldview.” As such, this book is an excellent resource for anyone interested in studying Rothbard’s ideas on Austrian economics, libertarianism, and the various myths that prop up the State.

A small group of specially selected undergraduate students will be able to discuss this work with George Pickering in eight weekly virtual meetings, starting on September 3. The meetings will be held on Tuesday evenings from 5-6 p.m. central time, and students will receive complimentary hard copies of the book.

Please apply here for a position in the Mises Book Club by Friday, August 2. Decisions will be communicated to all applicants by Friday, August 9.