Anatomy of the State
Murray Rothbard was known as the state's greatest living enemy, and this is his most succinct and powerful statement on the topic, an exhibit A in how he came to wear that designation proudly. He explains what a state is and what it is not, according to his own ideological vision. He shows how it is the only institution that purports to hold the right to violate all that we otherwise hold as honest and moral, and how it operates under a false cover now and always. He shows how the state wrecks freedom, destroys civilization, and threatens all lives and property and social well-being.
The essay is seminal in another respect. Here Rothbard had bound together the cause of private-property capitalism with anarchist politics — and he was truly the first thinker in the history of the world to fully forge the perspective that later came to be known as anarcho-capitalism. He took all that he had learned from the Misesian tradition and the liberal tradition and the anarchist tradition to put together what is really a new and highly systematic way of thinking about the entire subject of political economy and social thought.
Understanding his point of view has an interesting effect on any reader. It has the effect of putting things together in a way that changes the way we see the world.
And he explains all of this in a very short space, and in this very beautiful book. This is the first time that this essay has been published separately, so that it can be ordered in large quantities and distributed to all interested people.
Comments (26)
David Spellman
There is nothing that can be done for this printing, but if you do another printing I would recommend different cover art. A cutaway view of the head is not the most appetizing inducement to read about politics.
Published: May 12, 2009 7:44 PM
S Andrews
David,
But the title of the book is ANATOMY of state.
Published: May 12, 2009 7:47 PM
Bruce Koerber
Undoing Socialism
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
Rothbard's "Anatomy of the State" Destroys Socialism!
So it is that each person has a subjective evaluation. Personally I like the cover because it conveys the message that it is evident that a detailed analysis can be made. Afterwards the quacks (the ego-driven interventionists, that is, the socialists and fascists) who want to mislabel and misdiagnose can only do so if they conceal the scientific truth from the people.
Thank God the irrepressible force of the market process is by its very nature what causes information to flow, dooming to failure all erroneous human intervention into the economy.
Published: May 12, 2009 8:21 PM
Bruce Koerber
Undoing Socialism
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
Rothbard's "Anatomy of the State" Destroys Socialism!
So it is that each person has a subjective evaluation. Personally I like the cover because it conveys the message that it is evident that a detailed analysis can be made. Afterwards the quacks (the ego-driven interventionists, that is, the socialists and fascists) who want to mislabel and misdiagnose can only do so if they conceal the scientific truth from the people.
Thank God the irrepressible force of the market process is by its very nature what causes information to flow, dooming to failure all erroneous human intervention into the economy.
Published: May 12, 2009 8:22 PM
jeffrey
You don't like the cover??! I thought it was amazing.
Anyone else?
Published: May 12, 2009 8:41 PM
Victor
I think the cover is attractive, but my first impression was that it was a biology textbook, not a book on politics.
Published: May 12, 2009 8:55 PM
Daniel J. Sanchez
The cover is awesome. It gives me an urge to see Rothbard's dissection of the state therein.
Published: May 12, 2009 9:08 PM
Daniel J. Sanchez
Is this piece from Ethics of Liberty? If so, Rothbard splays the state open like a fish.
Published: May 12, 2009 9:10 PM
Link
http://mises.org/easaran/chap3.asp
Published: May 12, 2009 9:16 PM
S Andrews
If you had a way of superimposing the image of the cutaway head over another image that represents the STATE, it would have looked better. Not that it is bad as it is.
Published: May 12, 2009 9:20 PM
Conza88
Ohh this is a great idea!
Published: May 12, 2009 9:54 PM
Charlie
This looks wonderful. I'll be buying a couple to give away.
Published: May 12, 2009 10:13 PM
Ryan
Absolutely love the cover.
Published: May 12, 2009 10:48 PM
Alexander S. Peak
I must respectfully disagree with Mr. David Spellman.
In fact, the opposite sentiment compells me to say this:
DAMN YOU, MISES INSTITUTE.
Damn you for making this book look so appealing!
Damn you for making me want to buy this immediately, when I have other costs to consider.
Damn you for making this sound so appealing that I now want to drop everything and read the essay, despite the fact that I have my own essays I need to be working on for class.
Damn you for being so great.
Love,
Alex
Published: May 13, 2009 1:13 AM
Sukrit
How is this 60 pages long? i thought the original essay was much shorter than that?
Isn't the original essay printed in Egalitarianism as a Revolt Against nature?
Published: May 13, 2009 1:38 AM
David
"The intellectuals are, therefore, the "opinion-molders" in society. And since it is precisely a molding of opinion that the State most desperately needs, the basis for age-old alliance between the State and the intellectuals becomes clear." - Murray N. Rothbard, Anatomy of the State
I wish Murray had lived to see the Internet information explosion. The Intellectuals are losing their ability to mold opinion as they no longer have a stranglehold on information. The cat is out of the bag and they desperately searching for a way to put it back in (regulating the Internet won't work). Murray would be thrilled at this development. How many young college kids, I wonder, are refuting their professors nonsensical ideas by providing research from the Internet? This is just the beginning.
Published: May 13, 2009 1:48 AM
Gaurav Ahuja
The cover is not good, but the idea of this monograph is good.
Published: May 13, 2009 4:23 AM
Mac
I love the cover!
Some folks are not comfortable with human innards, which is fine. For you there is Rothbard's "Egalitarianism as a Revolt Against Nature." It contains "The Anatomy of the State" essay along with others.
But this is a pamphlet. And pamphlets are a medium for spreading controversy -- either for good or for ill (usually for ill IMO). So let the cover stay.
Cheers
Published: May 13, 2009 8:10 AM
Conza88
Something to note...
LvMI = open source...
So, make your OWN cover! :p
Published: May 13, 2009 8:27 AM
Richard
I like the cover.
Published: May 13, 2009 10:05 AM
Doug Stewart
When I saw the illustration of the cover, I started to look closely - I expected to see something like the Terminator or weapons, instead of natural flesh and bones...
Published: May 13, 2009 11:09 AM
Luke
Well I guess value IS subjective - I think the cover art is awesome. One of my favourite Rothbard essays. If you're reading this comment and haven't read this work yet.. What are you waiting for?!
Published: May 13, 2009 12:26 PM
Alexander S. Peak
You know, you could release a single book with two different covers--sort of like a collectors thing. To reiterate, I love this cover; but for those consumers that don't, this could be something into which it is worth looking. Then again, I don't know how much that would ultimately cost, or how easy it would be to facilitate.
Yours,
Alex Peak
Published: May 13, 2009 5:44 PM
Deefburger
I like the cover, but I think Alexander's idea of multiple covers is brilliant.
Or how about one cover and the text on the odd pages, then flip it over and Viola! Different cover with the text on the other pages. (I have user manuals printed that way in two languages).
Still, the multiple cover idea is a good one. Collect them all!
The "make your own cover" idea is good too. Why not? It's the internet. Let people submit covers and then let people choose which one to have printed. Winner gets a free copy! I'd be fun, and enlightening at the same time.
Published: May 13, 2009 8:26 PM
Deefburger
I like the cover, but I think Alexander's idea of multiple covers is brilliant.
Or how about one cover and the text on the odd pages, then flip it over and Viola! Different cover with the text on the other pages. (I have user manuals printed that way in two languages).
Still, the multiple cover idea is a good one. Collect them all!
The "make your own cover" idea is good too. Why not? It's the internet. Let people submit covers and then let people choose which one to have printed. Winner gets a free copy! I'd be fun, and enlightening at the same time.
Published: May 13, 2009 8:34 PM
Classic Liberal
David:
You must not have read footnote 44:
"Certainly, one indispensable ingredient of such a solution must be the sundering of the alliance of intellectual and State, through the creation of centers of intellectual inquiry and education, which will be independent of State power...."
Published: May 21, 2009 12:46 PM