Murray N. Rothbard The Making of an Austrian Economist

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This book has been several years in the making. Originally we envisioned it as a collection of letters and unpublished monographs from the Rothbard Papers at the Mises Institute. It was only in 2020 that we realized that a coherent narrative was needed to organize and bring to life the mass of correspondence and other writings. Over the next several years we wrote the manuscript and revised it as suggestions were made and new archival material was discovered.

We would like to thank several people affiliated with the Mises Institute who have helped us along the way. Without their assistance this book would not be what it is today. Archivist and librarian Suzy Westenkirchner was indispensable in discovering or obtaining archival materials from the collections at Duke University, Grove City College, the Hoover Institution, and the Mises Institute. The following reviewers provided very helpful feedback: David Gordon, Jeffrey Herbener, Peter Klein, Matthew McCaffrey, Jonathan Newman, Shawn Ritenour, and the participants at the 2025 Rothbard Graduate Seminar. Executive director Judy Thommesen, managing editor Daniella Bassi, copyeditor Sean Tommasi, and proofreader Ronda Rawlins cleaned up the book as it moved through the publication process. We would also like to thank Lew Rockwell, the founder of the Mises Institute and chairman of the board, for his enthusiasm and support of the project.

Above all, we thank Murray N. Rothbard for writing Man, Economy, and State. His vast intellectual output continues to be an incredible inspiration to both of us in our scholarly careers, and we strongly believe that if Rothbard had not met Mises in 1949, Austrian economics would not be the vibrant and flourishing intellectual movement it is today.

Joseph Salerno and Patrick Newman
Mises Institute
Auburn, AL
January 2026