Media and Culture

The case of Terri Schiavo is almost as controversial as it is tragic.The controversy? Her husband is adamant that the doctors pull the plug on Terri, and her parents are just as determined to keep her alive.

In our times, a major reason, and perhaps the major reason, for the phenomenal progress of the ideas of liberty is the work of the Mises Institute.

Mencken wrote that the sine qua non of all good criticism should be its ability to stand alone as a piece of art regardless of the qualities inherent in the object of the criticism. Cantor, Cox, and the other critics whose essays appear in Literature and the Economics of Liberty attain this goal.

Joan Samson was a Depression baby, born in 1937. In 1975, the year before her death, she published her only novel, <i>The Auctioneer</i>. This seems to be just about the sum total of what is publicly known about her, and that is a damn shame.

Ira Levin died just over three years ago, on November 12, 2007, at the age of 78, the largely unsung author of one of the top half-dozen libertarian novels ever published in our language. <i>This Perfect Day</i> has been out of print in recent years, so largely unsung is it.

"In working with leftists against the draft and the Vietnam War," writes Rothbard in this passionate article, "I never had the absurd notion of converting them to capitalism, either sneakily (as Efron would have it) or otherwise.... We are living in the real world, where <em>facts</em> are important."

It is a hopeless task to interpret a symphony, a painting, or a novel. The interpreter at best tries to tell us something about his reaction to the work. He cannot tell us with certainty what the creator's meaning was or what other people may see in it.

Other elementary texts will continue to be effective in conveying economic basics, but  Peter Schiff and his brother, Andrew Schiff, have a story to tell, an extension of a tale first developed by their father, Irwin Schiff. There's nothing quite like a story to get people turning the pages.

Contemporary classical-music pieces written by living composers routinely manage the amazing feat of displeasing nearly everyone in the concert hall, starting with the audience of course, but also including the performers.