The Free Man's Library

Henry Hazlitt did an incredible thing with The Free Man's Library. He created in a mere 180 pages an anthology of short reviews of 550 books on economics and politics, old and new, from the point of view of an Austrolibertarian.

Hazlitt wrote it because he believed in books and ideas and wanted to share his knowledge as widely as possible. So he takes on the role of a guide to the literature. His prose is pristine, with unflagging energy.

He covers great classics of historic libertarian thought such as de Tocqueville's Democracy in America, John Stuart Mill's On Liberty, Herbert Spencer's The Man versus the State, and Adam Smith's The Wealth of Nations, along with a multitude of lesser and more ephemeral works.

There is some dated material here with Cold War–era books, but that comprises perhaps a tenth of the anthology. And it remains of historical interest. The rest feels as contemporary as when it was written. The book had a huge influence when it appeared, and it is sure to stand out again in this reprinting as an eminently valuable resource.

It is doubtful that any review anthology this extensive or insightful will appear again — much less one compiled by such an able guide.