Celebrate with Freedom

Realizing Freedom: Libertarian Theory, History, and Practice may be just the thing for those looking for Hannukah/Christmas/Kwanzah/Sylvesterabend gifts. (I’ve not forgotten Eid; it’s not too early for next year!) It’s got something for nearly everyone: political theory, economics, sociology, history, political science, foreign policy, popular journalism, legal theory, practical politics, law and economics, sharp and careful responses to critics of libertarianism, and an extensive annotated bibliographical essay on “The Literature of Liberty.” It’s also got a Facebook Fan Page for discussion and has been endorsed by a range of media, academic, and political figures, including:

“Tom Palmer has the ability to make the complex understandable and to go to the heart of the most difficult problems. He is a valuable resource for journalists and others in search of historical and economic scholarship and philosophical insight, especially about the impact of government intervention and the reasons for respecting the freedom and responsibility of individuals.”
—JOHN STOSSEL
ABC News

“The libertarian conception of individual autonomy is often attacked as fostering narrow and selfish individuals who take scant notice of the larger world around them. Tom Palmer’s great contribution in this collection of essays is to lay those misconceptions to rest. He shows how autonomous individuals use their powers to promote exchange and cooperation, which enrich all facets of social life. He exposes the cultural imperialists whose high-falutin’ rhetoric is all too often the prescription for economic protectionism and social stagnation. He reminds us yet again that individual liberty is our most precious social good.”
—RICHARD A. EPSTEIN
James Parker Hall Distinguished Service Professor of Law, University of Chicago; author of Simple Rules for a Complex World

“Tom Palmer has been long involved in fighting the battle of ideas; in confronting collectivism, extensive government intervention, and the suppression of human freedom and economic prosperity. This book should be read by all who care about freedom. It is important to remind each generation that freedom can never be taken for granted. Collectivist, anti-libertarian ideologies did not cease to exist at the moment the Iron Curtain fell.”
—VACLAV KLAUS
President of the Czech Republic

“Tom Palmer has been one of liberty’s most eloquent and learned spokespersons for many years. It is a joy to have so many of his lucid, readable, and trenchant essays, written over most of those years, between one set of covers. The essays are independent of each other, enough so that you can sit down and read one here, one there, without needing to know also the hundred or two hundred pages in between. Whatever sort of essay you pick, I guarantee you a good read.”
—JAN NARVESON
University of Waterloo; author, You and the State: A Short Introduction to Political Philosophy and The Libertarian Idea

“Much of this book is devoted to lively defenses of classical liberal and libertarian rights theory against critics and false friends of many sorts. Even more interesting than these sharp rejoinders, though, is Palmer’s reframing and recharacterization of that rights theory. Drawing on his extraordinary interdisciplinary learning, Palmer offers a sociologically, institutionally, and historically informed libertarianism–one that is true to the rich legacy and tradition of classical liberalism.”
—JACOB T. LEVY
Tomlinson Professor of Political Theory, McGill University; author, The Multiculturalism of Fear

A few other links: Book Forum with Tyler Cowen of GMU and the New York Times, Lecture at Oxford (drawn from the book)

You can purchase Realizing Freedom from Amazon.com, from the Cato Institute, or from other retailers.

I’ll be in Afghanistan over the holidays and I’m bringing copies to my friends (some of the essays have already been published in Persian), along with a sack full of other books and materials.

(Image from: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Snowman.gif)