As PFS followers know by now, this month marks Murray Rothbard’s 100th birthday, which is precisely why we released Rothbard at 100: A Tribute and Assessment two weeks ago, on his birthday. Hans Hoppe realized only a couple months ago that this must be done, so we worked hard with our network of supporters and friends to make it happen in time for this occasion.
This month, and this year, is thus a special time of celebration for admirers of Rothbard and lovers of liberty around the world. A deluxe clothbound version of the book will be released soon, and the PFS will feature a panel on Murray and the book at the upcoming 2026 (and Twentieth Anniversary) Annual Meeting of the Property and Freedom Society in Turkey in September.
No doubt other groups and institutions are also celebrating and commemorating in their own way. For example, “100 Years of Rothbard” will be held in Porto, Portugal, on June 27, 2026, sponsored by several Portuguese libertarian groups: Mises Portugal, Catalaxia, Don’t Trust Verify (bitcoin podcast), Zugatv (libertarian podcast), and Golpe de Sstado Podcasto (ancap podcasters). Hans Hoppe and I plan to attend and speak about Rothbard.
Apropos of all this, I received an email today from the Mises Institute (web version below), which had the subject line “Rothbard’s Ideas Live On: Three Books That Defend Liberty,” obviously centered around Rothbard due to the special significance of this month. It highlights three books: one recent book about Rothbard, The Legacy of Murray N. Rothbard: Libertarian and Austrian Economist, by Roberta Modugno (sadly not online); one book by Rothbard from 2009, Murray N. Rothbard vs. The Philosophers: Unpublished Writings on Hayek, Mises, Strauss, and Polanyi; and his 1988 Festchrift, Man, Economy, and Liberty: Essays in Honor of Murray N. Rothbard.
The last one featured was co-edited by Walter Block, which is somewhat ironic given that Block was recently ostracized—or as Block says, “excommunicated,” employing the language of the cultish pro-war Randians that led his original conversion from socialism to libertarianism— by the Mises Institute, the Libertarian Institute, the Ron Paul Institute, the Future of Freedom Foundation, and Anti-War.com, for his recent pro-war views which would have horrified Rothbard. And by Dr. Hoppe himself, precisely for advocating pro-war ideas that Rothbard would not want to associate with. Indeed, as Hoppe wrote, of Walter’s piece in the Wall Street Journal (“what a surprise!” remarks Hans) titled “The Moral Duty to Destroy Hamas. Israel is entitled to do whatever it takes to uproot this evil, depraved culture that resides next to it”: Block’s
call for total and unrestricted war and the indiscriminate slaughter of innocent civilians is actually the complete and uninhibited rejection and renunciation of the non-aggression principle that constitutes one of the very cornerstones of the Rothbardian system.
In any case, the Mises Institute email inexplicably fails to mention the most recent and pertinent tribute to Rothbard, our own Rothbard at 100: A Tribute and Assessment, edited, spearheaded and published by Hans Hoppe, Rothbard’s most intimate associate, partner, friend, and student for the last decade of his life, his main intellectual heir and Distinguished Senior Fellow of the Mises Institute. Nor have any other emails from or posts on Mises.org mentioned it since its debut 2 weeks ago. In the words of Bill and Ted, Strange things are afoot at the Circle K.
But all is not lost. After listing these three books, the piece also includes a pitch to buy a “Rothbard Silver Round.” Get yours while it’s hot!
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The email sent to Mises Institute supporters:
Subject: “Rothbard’s Ideas Live On: Three Books That Defend Liberty”
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