After nearly five months since the start of the U.S. initiated 2026 Straight of Hormuz Crisis it should be clear that bombing, blockades, and rhetorical bluster cannot compel the flow of commerce through the region. Since February 28, 2026, the movement of crude oil and other commodities remains at a standstill.

Former Navy SEAL, apocalyptic novelist, and social commentator, Matt Bracken highlights the impossibility U.S. forces controlling Iran’s coastal islands, Kharg and Qeshm. His X, Gab and Substack accounts are worth following. Aside from the World Trade Organization data on crude oil movement, all of the graphics in this post are Bracken’s creations. [continue reading…]

From the vault: Murray N. Rothbard, “My Break With Branden and the Rand Cult,” Liberty (September 1988): 27–32. This issue also contains Rothbard’s entries in the Reflections section:

• “Her feet’s too big!”, p. 7: Rothbard mocks Eileen Ford (of the Ford Model Agency) for her lifelong personal hatred of Eleanor Roosevelt, which she attributes purely to Roosevelt’s appearance—calling her an “ugly old toad” with “awful size 50 feet”—rather than any political or ideological disagreement. He notes the absurdity of such superficial judgment and compares it to the Fats Waller lyric “Hate you cause your feet’s too big,” asking whether modern culture has become a living parody of that song. [continue reading…]

The Mises Institute used to have a very useful feature, the Mises Wiki (archive), but like many aspects of Mises.org since Jeff Tucker and Doug French left, it has fallen into desuetude.¹

As noted in this Facebook post (and LinkedIn post), David Veksler has revived it at his site,  freecapitalists.org, as The Austrian Economics Wiki: “A free encyclopedia of Austrian economics and the libertarian tradition.” Heroic!

[continue reading…]

1. See Kinsella, “My Years with the Mises Institute,” Property and Freedom Journal (May 2, 2026), the sections Pointless Name Changes, Website Changes, and Journal Confusion and Mises.org; Copyright and Open Publishing/Information. [↩]

Fernando Chiocca, From Let Trannies Compete in Women’s Sports, Instituto Rothbard (12/01/2024) (Google translation)

One of the most imbecile topics that has occupied the public debate in recent years is transgenderism, or more precisely, gender ideology. Men who feel better acting and living like women, and vice versa, are nothing new. And this is all what transgenderism is, something that has always occurred to a tiny percentage of individuals in all human societies, as the writings of early civilizations and the studies of anthropologists show. When discussing the sexual division of labor of pre-Columbian peoples, Alexander Goldenweiser notes that: [continue reading…]

From Lipton Matthews, “Individualism, Not Just IQ: The Overlooked Driver of the Great Divergence,” Property and Freedom Journal (July 23, 2026)

Related

• PFP041 | Hans-Hermann Hoppe, From the Malthusian Trap to the Industrial Revolution: An Explanation of Social Evolution (PFS 2009)

Lipton Matthews, “Individualism, Not Just IQ: The Overlooked Driver of the Great Divergence,” Property and Freedom Journal (July 23, 2026)

Why did Europe, and not China, become the dominant power of the modern world? It is a question that has kept historians arguing for decades, and for good reason. Around 1000 CE, China was arguably the more advanced civilization, with better engineering, a more sophisticated bureaucracy, and larger cities than anything Europe had to offer. And it was not just China. Japan and Korea also had relatively high human capital levels during the pre-industrial era and by several modern measures East Asians score higher on IQ tests than Europeans do. So if raw brain power explained who ends up on top, the map of scientific and industrial achievement today would look quite different. [continue reading…]

From @conza and conza.au, an online version of Mises Made Easier: Percy L. Greaves Jr.’s glossary for Ludwig von Mises’s Human Action — 670 terms, from a posteriori to Zwangswirtschaft, each with Greaves’s page citations to Mises’s works.

[Cross-posted at HansHoppe.com]

On Sept. 17–18, 2005, Professors Hans-Hermann Hoppe and Guido Hülsmann presented a two-day 11-lecture series, “Weekend Seminar in Austrian Economics,” in Klampenborg (just north of Copenhagen, Denmark), under the auspices of the Copenhagen Institute and Liberator. Program (local, and at right). See also Copenhagen Institute hosts Hoppe and Hülsmann, Mises Economics Blog (Sept. 1, 2005).

The entire series runs for roughly 10–12 hours and are collected on a PFS Playlist¹ and also embedded below, along with a bonus video collecting clips from the lectures on the nature of money. [continue reading…]

1. Based on the incomplete V for Voluntary Youtube playlist. [↩]

From the vault: Murray N. Rothbard, two entries in the Reflections section (pp. 7–8, 9–10), Liberty (July 1989).

Related

• Rothbard, Greenhouse defects (Liberty, Jan. 1989), and libertarian criticisms of environmentalism by Rothbard and others linked there

Why not feel sorry for Exxon? – To say that the oil spill has been blown up to hysterical dimensions is a grave understatement. Hysteria abounds everywhere, and everywhere the term “disaster” is freely used. Even Pat Buchanan, who of all the media commentators I thought would be most resistant to the wiles of environmentalism, used that term. The Idiotic Overstatement Award of the Year goes to Alaska Judge Kenneth Rohl, who opined about the oil spill, “We have a man-made destruction that has not been equalled, probably, since Hiroshima.” [continue reading…]

From Ayn Rand, R.I.P. by William F. Buckley Jr.:

Miss Rand was going on about something or other at which point Mises told her to be quiet and that she was being very foolish. The lady who could account for all her emotions at that point burst out into tears and complained, “You are treating me like a poor, ignorant little Jewish girl!” Mr. Hazlitt, attempting to bring serenity to his table, leaned over and said: “There, there, Ayn, that isn’t at all what Ludwig was suggesting.” But this attempt at conciliation was ruined when Mises jumped up and said: “That iss eggsactly what you ahrr!” Since all three participants were Jewish, this was not a racist slur. This story was mortal to her reputation as the lady of total self-control.

[continue reading…]

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (22.2MB)

Property and Freedom Podcast, Episode 337.

This is the speech by Yorick De Mombynes at 100 Years with Rothbard (Porto, Portugal, June 27, 2026): Rothbard & Bitcoin.

Powerpoint (.pptx), transcript and summary below.

See also Kinsella, Rothbard Takes Portugal: 100 Years with Rothbard: A Personal Account, and the Cataláxia Editora Rothbard 100 Youtube playlist.

[continue reading…]

From the vault: Murray N. Rothbard, “Eyeing the Top of the Pyramid: Mr. Friedman at the Apex” (pp. 33–34) and various entries in the Reflections section (pp. 7–8, 11, 12–13), Liberty (May 1989).

Rothbard’s article is a response to Jeffrey Friedman’s article “The End of Political Activism” from the previous issue (March 1989), critiquing aspects of Rothbard’s approach to libertarian strategy and ideology, and also includes R.W. Bradford’s response, “What’s Wrong with Friedman’s Pyramid” (p. 34–36). [continue reading…]

Below is the video of the speech by Professor Anxo Bastos at 100 Years with Rothbard (Porto, Portugal, June 27, 2026), “Rothbard’s Contributions to the Austrian School.” See Cataláxia Editora Rothbard 100 Youtube playlist. Transcript and summary below.

See Kinsella, Rothbard Takes Portugal: 100 Years with Rothbard: A Personal Account. See also Miguel Anxo Bastos Boubeta, Nation, Secession, and Freedom (pp 27–35), in The Emergence of a Tradition: Essays in Honor of Jesús Huerta de Soto, Volume II, David Howden and Philipp Bagus, eds. (Cham: Palgrave Macmillan / Springer, 2023).

Summary

Summary of Bastos’ Talk on Murray Rothbard’s Contributions to Economic Theory

In his speech at the 100th anniversary event for Murray Rothbard organized by the Mixos Institute in Portugal, speaker Bastos highlights three major contributions by Rothbard to Austrian economics, with a fourth overarching insight as the most important. [continue reading…]

Classic and beautiful piece by the late, great Ralph Raico, one of the original supporters of the founding of the PFS:¹ Grow Up, Canada, LewRockwell.com (April 24, 2002)

Grow Up, Canada!

Ralph Raico

April 24, 2002

Canadian bleeding hearts are moaning and groaning because an American fighter pilot decided to drop a big bomb on Canadian troops engaged in combat exercises on the ground in Afghanistan. Four Canadian soldiers were killed and several wounded, including at least one with life-threatening injuries.

Up in the Great White North, politicians, the press, and the man in the street are all aghast. One outraged Canuck went so far as to write to a newspaper: “Pull our soldiers out now! Let those war-hungry Americans who are just trying to stimulate their own economy and satisfy the many special interests of the elite, fight their own damn war.” Can you imagine – daring to besmirch America’s holy, endless War Against Terrorism! [continue reading…]

1. Ralph Raico, R.I.P. [↩]

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 43:41 — 10.0MB)

Property and Freedom Podcast, Episode 336.

From French, Rothbard as Intellectual Inspiration (Mises University, 2006): Douglas E. French, “Rothbard as Intellectual Inspiration,” Mises Daily (08/15/2006) (from Mises University 2006; mp3; local mp3)

Transcript and summary below.

Overview

[continue reading…]

From the Vault: Douglas E. French, “Rothbard as Intellectual Inspiration,” Mises Daily (08/15/2006) [from Mises University 2006; mp3; podcast at PFP336 | Doug French, Rothbard as Intellectual Inspiration (Mises University, 2006)].¹ Ed. note: of course Doug was also responsible for the French Prize, for the best student²—as the schedule states:

Some very good news for those students who attend the Mises University this summer (and following): The student who emerges from the oral examinations (the Mündliche Prüfung) with the best record, as chosen by the examining committee, will be awarded the Douglas E. French Scholarship Prize of $2,500. The winner will be announced and the prize money given at the final barbecue.³

—but that didn’t stop him from being unceremoniously ousted by Lew Rockwell in 2012, after he was lured to Auburn to become president in 2009.⁴

Related

• Rothbard at 100: A Tribute and Assessment, Stephan Kinsella and Hans-Hermann Hoppe, eds. (Papinian Press and The Saif House, 2026) and various links and resources collected there
• See especially Hans-Hermann Hoppe and Stephan Kinsella, “Appendix: Rothbard’s UNLV Evaluation and Syllabus,” in Rothbard at 100: A Tribute and Assessment, including “Memo from Douglas E. French to Stephan Kinsella” as well as Rothbard’s annual faculty review at UNLV by Chairman Mark A. Thayer (1991), followed by Rothbard’s draft comment in reply, and two letters from Rothbard to Doug French (Dec. 3, 1992 and Dec. 11, 1992)
• Re: “Bill Bradford entitled “Why Libertarians Love to Hate”: see  Douglas E. French, “Rothbard as Teacher,” Liberty (May 1995), p. 14 & 69; Liberty (March, 1995), p. 13 (offering for sale video and audiotape of “Why Libertarians Hate,” by R.W. Bradford, from the Liberty Editors’ Conference in Tacoma, Washington, 1994)
• Douglas E. French, “Remembering Murray Rothbard: Teacher, Friend, and Inspiration,” in Rothbard at 100: A Tribute and Assessment
• Douglas E. French et al., “Memories: Murray N. Rothbard (1926–1995) as Mentor and Teacher,” Property and Freedom Society Annual Meeting 2015, Bodrum, Turkey (Sep. 11, 2015), available at PFP129 | Memories: Murray N. Rothbard (1926–1995) as Mentor and Teacher, Hoppe, DiLorenzo, French, Iglody (PFS 2015)
• French, Buckley’s Belligerent Obit
• Doug was the recipient, in 2005, of the Center for Libertarian Studies’ Murray N. Rothbard Award and, in 2012, of the Murray N. Rothbard Medal of Freedom, and also endowed the Mises Institute’s Douglas E. French Prize.
• Douglas E. French et al., “Murray Rothbard as a Teacher: The UNLV Years—A Panel with Rothbard’s Former Students,” Austrian Economics Research Conference 2023, Auburn, Alabama, Mises Institute (Oct. 7, 2017), available at Stephan Kinsella, “PFP252 | Bonus: Murray Rothbard as a Teacher: The UNLV Years—A Panel with Rothbard’s Former Students (AERC2023),” Property and Freedom Podcast (Oct. 2, 2023)
• French, “Reminiscences of Murray,” LewRockwell.com (April 8, 2005), republished as “Studying Under Murray,” in I Chose Liberty: Autobiographies of Contemporary Libertarians, Walter Block, ed. (Auburn, Ala.: Mises Institute 2010) (based on a talk was delivered on the occasion of receiving the Center for Libertarian Studies’ Murray N. Rothbard Award in recognition of his dedication to the ideals of liberty in the Rothbardian tradition);
• French, “Learning From the Master,” LewRockwell.com (Dec. 24, 2002)
• Lee Iglody, “The Man Across the Hall: My Time with Professor Rothbard,” in Rothbard at 100: A Tribute and Assessment
• Jeff Barr, “The Last Lecture,” in Rothbard at 100: A Tribute and Assessment
• Hans Hoppe, “Coming of Age with Murray,” in Rothbard at 100: A Tribute and Assessment

See Transcript and Summary at PFP336 | Doug French, Rothbard as Intellectual Inspiration (Mises University, 2006); and this summary:

French begins by honoring entrepreneurs who quietly transform lives, using Willis Haviland Carrier—the father of modern air conditioning—as a prime example. Carrier’s innovations, starting from a small engineering firm, enabled widespread comfort in homes, stores, theaters, and even entire cities like Phoenix and Las Vegas, dramatically improving quality of life without seeking much personal credit. He contrasts this with negative cultural stereotypes of businessmen as greedy exploiters, rooted in Marxist theory, and celebrates real-world figures like entrepreneur Ron Yanke. Yanke, a larger-than-life, relentlessly energetic man, built multiple successful businesses, was pivotal in founding Micron Technology, and created opportunities for thousands while remaining humble, generous, and cheerful. French notes that such entrepreneurs make the world richer and fuller through capital accumulation, job creation, and innovation.

French then draws a parallel between Yanke’s personality and that of Murray Rothbard, describing Rothbard as the other constantly cheerful, vibrant person he had known. As a UNLV graduate student in the early 1990s with no prior exposure to Austrian economics or libertarianism, French enrolled in Rothbard’s History of Economic Thought course despite warnings that the professor was a “kook.” Rothbard’s lectures were electrifying: fast-paced, narrative-driven explorations of history and ideas—good guys versus bad guys—delivered without syllabi or roll calls, packed with references, and far superior to the graphs and statistics of conventional economics classes. Students returned semester after semester because Rothbard varied the content each time. [continue reading…]

1. Ed. note: I can only link to an archive.org version of Mises University 2006 because of Mises Institute website screwups, whether intentional or merely incompetent, the since ousting of Jeff Tucker in 2011, means that some old links are not merely renamed and hard to find because there is no redirect URL, but gone entirely. —SK See Kinsella, “My Years with the Mises Institute,” Property and Freedom Journal (May 2, 2026), the sections Pointless Name Changes, Website Changes, and Journal Confusion and Mises.org; Copyright and Open Publishing/Information. [↩]
2. See What Happened at the Mises University 2006, Mises Daily (8/15/2006). [↩]
3. Mises U 2006 Schedule. See also 2006 Mises University Awards; the Douglas E. French Prize is still being awarded. [↩]
4. See Kinsella, “My Years with the Mises Institute,” Kinsella, “My Years with the Mises Institute,” the section Tucker and French v. Rockwell: Behind the Scenes, 2008–2012. [↩]

No, not that country, as U.S. Senator John Fetterman explains, but “love and devotion” for Israel.  Fetterman is a leading figure of what some are calling the “genocide caucus” of the U.S. Congress.

This version of “love of country” is also apparently a litmus test for Trump administration appointees.  

Related

• Hoppe, “The Socialism of Conservatism,” in A Theory of Socialism and Capitalism (Kluwer, 1989; Mises Institute reprint, 2007; Laissez Faire Books, 2013)
• Hoppe, Where the Right Goes Wrong (1997)
• Classic Hoppe on the Realistic Right vs. the Egalitarian Left
• Murray N. Rothbard, “Right Wing Populism: A Strategy for the Paleo Movement,” Rothbard-Rockwell Report (Jan. 1992), in Rothbard, The Irrepressible Rothbard
• idem, “A Strategy for the Right,” Rothbard-Rockwell Report (March 1992), included in Rothbard, The Irrepressible Rothbard, though the book erroneously indicates Jan. 1992 (instead of March 1992) and omits the first three paragraphs of the original essay for no reason
• Jeff Deist, “Appreciating Rothbard’s Political Genius,” Rothbard at 100: A Tribute and Assessment
• Fernando Chiocca: “Rothbardianism at Rothbard’s Centenary”—Rothbard at 100, Portugal

Obvious truths are often the ones that need repetition, because we grow so accustomed to them, that we risk forgetting their importance. One such truth is this: Rothbardian cultural conservatism has nothing to do with political conservatism.

These are two very different things, hiding under the same name. This can lead, and indeed has led to, dangerous cases of idola theatri, where the usage of the same word hides the irreconcilable difference between two ideas. Hence, in order to avoid this idol, we must invest in definition.

In the “Rothbard at 100” event in Porto, Portugal, 2026, Fernando Chiocca gave a speech that can be called, without exaggeration, historic. In it, he distinguished between true and false Rothbardianism based on 6 systematically integrated points. These are the “dogmas” any Rothbardian should adhere to if they want to do more than empty talking. Of those 6 points, I want to focus on the fourth one, namely that For a Rothbardian, libertarianism is not enough for a free society, a stateless social order also requires cultural conservatism as a sociological presupposition.¹ What is this “sociological presupposition”? Distilled into its essence, it is the reckoning that there is —and ever will be— a natural order of things, and that this order has been known and respected by the majority of human beings up to this point. In many ways, it is plain common sense: that men and women are different, human groups are different, and these differences are not just skin deep, excellence is a trait only a few possess, what is good and bad is not defined in a moment, but over centuries, and are ultimately eternal and absolute standards. It is to accept the rules of 99% over 1% of human history, the normal over the abnormal. [continue reading…]

1.  Fernando Chiocca, “‘Rothbardianism at Rothbard’s Centenary’ — Rothbard at 100, Portugal,” Property and Freedom Society, July 2026, https://propertyandfreedom.org/2026/07/chiocca-rothbardianism-at-rothbards-centenary/. [↩]

From the vault: Murray N. Rothbard, various entries in the Reflections section, Liberty (March, 1989): 9, 11, 22.

This is issue also contains Rothbard’s article “Ronald Reagan: An Autopsy”¹ and a rebuttal to Rothbard’s earlier piece [Rothbard, Greenhouse defects (Liberty, Jan. 1989)], Daniel M. Karlan, “An Environmentalist Contra Rothbard,” Liberty (March 1989): 35–36.

Related

• Re “pomposo” remark in the McCarthy piece: re his use of “seriosos” in other contexts: Rothbard, “The December Surprise,” in The Irrepressable Rothbard (Feb. 1993); Kinsella, KOL493 | Rothbard’s Greatest Hits: A Personal Mix Tape (Porto, Portugal); Kinsella, Lawyer apology
• Rothbard, The Sociology of the Ayn Rand Cult (2), LewRockwell.com, September 12, 2002
• Peter Schwartz, “Libertarianism: The Perversion of Liberty,” in Ayn Rand, The Voice of Reason: Essays in Objectivist Thought (Meridian, 1990) and the “Libertarians” entry in The Ayn Rand Lexicon (http://aynrandlexicon.com)
• Rothbard’s Objectivist Influences
• Objectivism Schism Form Letter; I break for Randians; Breaking, Broken, Broke: Silly Objectivist Tendencies
• Flynn, Daniel J. (2025). ”Murray Rothbard’s Lost Letters on Ayn Rand.” J. Libertarian Stud. 29, no. 2: 35–50

Here are the reflections. [continue reading…]

1. Reprinted already at Mises Daily; mentioned in Murray Rothbard and Liberty Magazine and Vance, Murray Rothbard and Liberty Magazine.  [↩]

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 20:19 — 7.0MB)

Property and Freedom Podcast, Episode 335.

AI-assisted audio narration of the main chapters of Rothbard at 100: A Tribute and Assessment (Papinian Press and The Saif House, 2026) is available at this PFS Youtube Playlist; the mp3 files may also be downloaded in this zip file.

The first two chapters—my “Preface” and Hans’s “Introduction”—were published the week of Rothbard’s birthday here on the Property and Freedom Podcast (PFP315 and PFP314). The other main chapters will be released sequentially weekly on Mondays. The final entry:

20. Rahim Taghizadegan, “Murray N. Rothbard and the Demystification of Economics”

Note: These audio versions were prepared by Jorge Besada. A professionally-produced audio format is now also available from the Saif House.

The cloth hardcover edition of Rothbard at 100: A Tribute and Assessment was presented last month at 100 Years with Rothbard, Porto, Portugal, June 27, 2026. This and other formats are available at Amazon; Saif House also offers these versions as well as the professionally-produced audio version.

Doug French, “Buckley’s Belligerent Obit,” DouglasinVegas.com, 2023/7/19

In her wonderful book The Dead Beat: Lost Souls, Lucky Stiffs and the Perverse Pleasures of Obituaries, Marilyn Johnson pointed out “There are people vanishing, good people dying out there, and the obit writer’s job is to shepherd them out with dignity.”

In 1959,“Rothbard physically applauded Khrushchev in his limousine as it passed by on the street. He gave as his reason for this that, after all, Khrushchev had killed fewer people than General Eisenhower, his host,” snipped William F. Buckley in his 1995 Rothbard obituary.¹ [continue reading…]

1. William F. Buckley Jr., Murray Rothbard, RIP, National Review (Feb. 6, 1995). See also Kinsella, Disparaging Rothbard. —SK [↩]

From Projeto Liberin — @projetoliberin; https://www.youtube.com/@a-liberin; https://www.facebook.com/estudio92fm; Live on Rádio Estúdio 92.3 FM Cascavel (program Independência). An interview of António Xavier, one of the organizers of Rothbard 100 there, by: Emerson Bitencourt, Host, TERÇA LIBERTÁRIA on Liberin; Osmar Junior — interviewer; Priscila “Pria” Merisio (aka “Priscila do Liberin”), co-host/interviewer. The transcript below probably has some names wrong.

Re:

• Kinsella, Rothbard Takes Portugal: 100 Years with Rothbard: A Personal Account
• 100 Years with Rothbard (Porto, Portugal, June 27, 2026)

English transcript and summary below. And a bonus video:

[continue reading…]

From Haman Nature, Laughing at Libertarian Paradise Criticisms | Hn 255 (Jul 19, 2026), a conversation between new PFS member Adam Haman and Bob Murphy.

[continue reading…]

From the vault: Murray N. Rothbard, two Reflections: “The tall and the short of genocide” (p. 6) and “That Cato Seminar” (pp. 7–8), Liberty (November 1988). Note: this is the same issue as the Symposium discussing Hans Hoppe’s significant article “The Ultimate Justification of the Ethics of Private Property” in the previous issue, which, in addition to this symposium (including Rothbard’s significant commentary), also inspired much scholarly commentary and controversy over the following 28 years, which continues to this day.¹

Here’s the piece on genocide:

The tall and the short of genocide – William Raspberry, in his syndicated column of August 31, asks why the genocidal massacre of the Hutu majority of Burundi by the Tutsi ruling elite is shrugged off with little protest by the Western world. This summer, the Tutsi, who constitute only 15 percent of the Burundi population, slaughtered over 5,000 Hutu men, women, and children, and drove nearly 40,000 others into neighboring Rwanda. And this is but a sequel to the monstrous massacre of 1972, when the Tutsi annihilated around 200,000 Hutu, including all of that tribe’s educated members, thereby ensuring a generation of continued oppression without educated tribesmen able to lead a resistance among the oppressed. [continue reading…]

1. Hans-Hermann Hoppe, “The Ultimate Justification of the Ethics of Private Property” (September 1988; also in EEPP); Symposium on Hoppe’s argumentation ethics: “Breakthrough or Buncombe?”, esp. Murray N. Rothbard, “Beyond Is And Ought” (Nov. 1988); Kinsella, “Argumentation Ethics and Liberty: A Concise Guide,” Mises Daily (May 27, 2011); Kinsella, “A Libertarian Theory of Punishment and Rights,” “Dialogical Arguments for Libertarian Rights,” and “Defending Argumentation Ethics: Reply to Murphy & Callahan,” all in Legal Foundations of a Free Society (Houston, Texas: Papinian Press, 2023); “The Genesis of Estoppel: My Libertarian Rights Theory“; “Hoppe’s Argumentation Ethics and Its Critics,” “Revisiting Argumentation Ethics.” [↩]

When the email came asking if I’d contribute a chapter—a firsthand account of Murray Rothbard’s final semester of teaching—I sat with it longer than I expected to. Not because I didn’t want to say yes. Because I understood, reading it a second time, that I might be one of the only people left who could actually say yes. Not one of many who’d read his books. One of the few who had sat in that room.

That’s a strange kind of responsibility.

Rothbard has a vast bibliography—decades of it, footnoted within an inch of its life—and none of it can tell you what it was like to watch him teach. I could. So I said yes, and then immediately wondered if I actually could.

I remembered things, but I didn’t trust the things I remembered. Memory has a way of sanding an image smooth, rounding off the parts that don’t fit the story you’ve decided to tell about someone. I didn’t want to write a legend. I wanted to write the man.

So I went looking for something specific—something no bibliography could hand me. And I found it in the tangents. [continue reading…]