Rothbard: Review of Cross-Currents, by Forster and Epstein (1956)

by PFS on July 30, 2026

Aubrey Herbert [Murray N. Rothbard], “Review of Cross-Currents, by A. Forster and B. Epstein.” Faith and Freedom 7, no. 9 (May 1956): p. 27 (PDF).

This is a review of Cross-Currents, by Arnold Forster and Benjamin R. Epstein (Doubleday, New York/Garden City, 1956; 382 pp.; Internet Archive). According to Grok, the subtitle/cover line is roughly “The book that tells how anti-Semitism is used today as a political weapon,” and it was associated with the Anti-Defamation League of B’nai B’rith.

For related Rothbard and PFS pieces, see

PFS, “Nozick v. Rothbard on Zionism and Israel (1979),” PFS Blog (July 30, 2026)
Tyler Kubik, “Murray N. Rothbard Bibliography: 1940–1986,” Property and Freedom Journal (May 16, 2026); and
PFS posts on Zionism

CROSS-CURRENTS
ARNOLD FORSTER AND BENJAMIN R. EPSTEIN
(New York: Doubleday and Co., 1956, 382 pp., $4)

This is a remarkably poor work, misleading, slipshod, inaccurate, a mish-mash of uncoordinated interoffice memoranda. Why review the book at all? Because a libertarian may find a friend or favorite author mentioned somewhere in its pages.

The major theme of this work, as in so many Anti-Defamation League products of the past, is to tar every “rightwinger” with the brush of “antiSemitism.” This is done primarily by extreme use of the age-old technique of “guilt by association.” And it is pushed to lengths which no “McCarthyite” would ever think of going.

A and B don’t like the income tax; B once shared a platform attacking fluoridation with C (whose article blasting the UN was reprinted in an allegedly anti-Semitic periodical). Therefore, A, B and C are all anti-Semites. And so it goes.

A curious naivete runs through the volume. Not only do the authors attack all critics of Eisenhower or all those desirous of a Third Party; they clearly believe that all such activities are wicked and un-American. They don’t bother to explain why.

Most disturbing aspect of the book: the quotations from apparently private letters and conversations. Even friendly reviewers have wondered about this invasion of privacy. The ADL has often been accused of being a private espionage organization. If this charge is correct, we may—without passing judgment on the legality of its procedures—wax pretty indignant over their immorality.

Rothbard: Review of Cross-Currents, by Forster and Epstein (1956)

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