Mr. Libertarian, a great genius of the 20th century and one of the most innovative intellectuals in human history, still has more to say, especially from his private papers.
These memos by Murray Rothbard, written in the 1950s and early 1960s for the William Volker Fund, were kept under wraps for 50 years. Rothbard’s writing is deeply insightful, brazenly honest, and penetrating in every way, as he treats every subject from strategy to historical scholarship.
Never published before, these memos provide a different perspective on the mind of a great and pioneering thinker. The first book to bring some to light was Roberta Modugno’s Rothbard Versus the Philosophers.
The Volker Fund provided much needed support for libertarian scholars, such as Ludwig von Mises and Friedrich von Hayek. It commissioned Rothbard to read and evaluate books, journal articles, and other materials. It also asked him to submit reports on particular questions, such as how to rank sundry economists in terms of friendliness to the free market, surveys of the literature on monopoly, Soviet wage structures, etc. Through his memos, Rothbard provided guidance for the publishing and philanthropic efforts of the fund.
Strictly Confidential heats up the legacy of these writings with pages sometimes marked "Strictly Confidential." And you can see why. Rothbard is merciless toward the enemies of liberty and relentless against those who are unwilling to follow through on the full logic of what liberty demands. Edited (but never censored) by David Gordon, and with an introduction by Brian Doherty, Strictly Confidential presents 40 full memos by Rothbard.
Some of the thinkers evaluated: Willmoore Kendall, Charles Beard, Jackson Turner Main, George B. DeHuszar, Douglass C. North, William Appleman Williams, Alexander Gray, T.S. Ashton, Ronald Coase, John Chamberlain, Lionel Robbins, Benjamin Anderson, Alan S. Whiting, Frank S. Meyer, Walter Millis, George F. Kennan, Ayn Rand, Edmund Fuller, among many others.
