There is No Justice in Preventive War

Mises Review 12, No. 3 (Fall 2006)

THE ETHICS OF WAR: SHARED PROBLEMS IN DIFFERENT TRADITIONS
Chapter “Preventive War and the Killing of the Innocent,” by Jeff McMahan
Richard Sorabji and David Rodin, eds.
Ashgate, 2006, 169–190 pgs.
 

The Case for a Robust Ethics of Freedom

Mises Review 12, No. 3 (Fall 2006)

NORMS OF LIBERTY: A PERFECTIONIST BASIS FOR NON-PERFECTIONIST POLITICS
Douglas B. Rasmussen and Douglas J. DenUyl
Pennsylvania State University Press, 2005, xviii + 358 pgs.

Mises Review 12, No. 3 (Fall 2006)

The Real Meaning of Hayek

THE POLITICAL SOCIOLOGY OF FREEDOM: ADAM FERGUSON AND F.A. HAYEK
Ronald Hamowy
Edward Elgar, 2005, xviii + 265 pgs.

Ronald Hamowy combines extraordinary critical powers with painstaking historical research. His skills are much in evidence in this collection of his essays, but I have an additional reason to call this book to my readers’ attention. On a few occasions, people have complained that my reviews are too negative.

What did Leo Strauss Believe About Politics?

Mises Review 12, No. 3 (Fall 2006)

LEO STRAUSS AND EMMANUEL LEVINAS: PHILOSOPHY AND THE POLITICS OF REVELATION
Leora Batnitzky
Cambridge University Press, 2006, xxii + 280 pgs.

LEO STRAUSS AND THE THEOLOGICO-POLITICAL PROBLEM
Heinrich Meier
Cambridge University Press, 2006, xxi + 183 pgs.
 

The Myth of Market Failure

Mises Review 12, No. 3, (Fall 2006)

MARKETS DON’T FAIL!
Brian Simpson
Lexington Books, 2005, xi + 221 pgs.
 

Few opponents of the free market today support the replacement of capitalism by socialism. Even anti-capitalists have learned something from the collapse of the Soviet bloc. Instead, it is alleged that capitalism, though a good system, is imperfect. The state must act to “improve” the situation.

Mises Review 12, No. 3 (Fall 2006)

They Loved Each Other’s Politics

THREE NEW DEALS: REFLECTIONS ON ROOSEVELT’S AMERICA, MUSSOLINI’S ITALY, AND HITLER’S GERMANY
Wolfgang Schivelbusch
Metropolitan Books, 2006, 242 pgs.
 

Mises Review 13, No. 2 (Summer 2007)

LINCOLN UNMASKED: WHAT YOU’RE NOT SUPPOSED TO KNOW ABOUT DISHONEST ABE
Thomas J. DiLorenzo
Crown Forum, 2006, 223 pgs.
 

Mises Review 13, No. 2 (Summer 2007)

THE RUSES FOR WAR: AMERICAN INTERVENTIONISM SINCE WORLD WAR II
John B. Quigley
Prometheus Books, 2007, 433 pgs.

Mises Review 13, No. 2 (Summer 2007)

THE POLITICALLY INCORRECT GUIDE TO THE CONSTITUTION
Kevin R.C. Gutzman
Regnery Publishing, 2007, xiii + 258 pgs.

Mises Review 13, No. 2 (Summer 2007)

AMERICANISM: THE FOURTH GREAT WESTERN RELIGION
David Gelernter
Doubleday, 2007, x + 229 pgs.

David Gelernter starts with an undoubted fact and uses it to construct a bizarre fantasy. The origins of America have been profoundly religious; in particular, the Puritans affected American thought in pervasive fashion. Their influence long persisted their demise as a distinct movement in the nineteenth century. Thus, historians who view the Founding Fathers as creatures of a secular Enlightenment are badly mistaken.