Liberty Books

I found this book by accident in the Phlosophy section of my local book store. I have read about half the book, and I feel like my mind has expanded with great knowledge and wisdom.

"Likely the best apologia currently available in English for the prospect of a Catholic nation and society -- including limitations on non-Catholic religious activity -- from one who nevertheless embraces the Church's recent doctrinal development on the question of tolerance and freedom as found in Vatican II's Dignitatis Humanae. It establishes the fundamental continuity of the Church's present position with the strongly anti-liberalist papal teachings of the 18th and 19th centuries.

Best read in conjunction with the presently unavailable masterpiece, written by Father Brian W. Harrison, RELIGIOUS LIBERTY AND CONTRACEPTION. Also good is the theology of 'communio' approach taken by David Schindler's HEART OF THE WORLD, CENTER OF THE CHURCH.

Best book on investing I ever read. A real step by step cookbook that if you follow it you can't go wrong.

Sure wish they would publish it again. I lost my copy about 5 years ago. I would really like to get another.

Lew Rockwell has compiled a fascinating collection of essays to add to the free-market apologia. Rockwell is the "dean" of the Ludwig von Mises Institute in Alabama, the fountainhead of paleolibertarianism. The Institute works to advance individual liberty and free-markets while promoting Judeo-Christian values.

This book, originally published in the late 1980's, contains a number of essays on a variety of issues from economists, scholars and free-market defenders. It features

luminaries of the Austrian school such as Mises, Reed, Rothbard, Skouson. Also, the paleolibertarian Congressman of Texas, Dr. Ron Paul offers his perspective in essays such as "The Coming World Bank" and "The Case for Free Trade." Moreover, Lew Rockwell, the editor, also offers some fresh perspectives.

Wide-ranging issues such as: banking, economic myths & fundamentals, fiat money vs. the gold standard, free trade vs. protectionism, privatization and socialism, etc. Plus a salute to the great economists of the Austrian school of economics.

Moreover, it seems this book has gone out-of-print. You might want to search for it on a used book search like half.com if you don't have any luck with Amazon's used book service. Though, I've seen it available every now and again.

I studied this book as part of a church Sunday-school class and found it to be quite good. It is particularly useful as a preventative measure against church splits, as it forces people to examine a solid Biblical way to resolve disagreements and to also accept our Brothers and Sisters with whom we disagree with. This book may make the reader mad, especially if he/she has really strong convictions/opinions on a subject, but if you want a Biblical treatise on resolving problems and maintaining unity, you'll be hard pressed to find a better one.

As a non-theologian, and simply a Catholic layperson, I found this book helpful for deepening my appreciation of St. Paul, enfleshing and rounding my understanding of his personality, trials, and work; and solidifying the importance of agape love in Christian life.

The author systematically studies the positions of multiple New Testament scholars in explaining Paul's argument for justification through faith, rather than law. He passionately hammers home the message that it is not adherence to a set of rules which saves us from sins' bondage- but rather through our faith in Christ. As God showed ultimate love in giving Jesus to humanity, and Jesus demonstrated sacrificial love in giving Himself on the cross, now we are free to show love to God and others, as to ourselves.

While acknowledging that all in life is not pleasant, the author reminds us that suffering can "have meaning and value", but that "suffering and death do not have the last word". Freedom to love was given to Christians, for their happiness in this life, and the next. If the author's ultimate hope was that his writing draw the reader closer to Jesus Christ, that mission was accomplished. We can demonstrate our faith, through acts of unconditional love, starting today.

submitted 31 December 2001

This book contains individual reports about every country in the world, as well as some territories in dispute by several nations. It provides both extensive historical background and an update on the past year's events in each nation. If you're doing international relations research, this is the place to start.

Freedom House is an organization devoted to the cause of democracy. As part of its efforts, it publishes an assessment of the status of democracy around the world each year. This volume considers the status of democracy in 2006. I am somewhat critical of their methods and the continually optimistic conclusions about democracy. That said, this is indeed a terrific resource for those interested in freedom's status.

The volume begins with a brief introduction. On page 13, the authors simply note the nature of the methodology used. Based on a variety of measures, every country is rated 1 (most free) to 7 (least free) on two dimensions--political rights and civil liberties. Then, the two numbers are used to assign one each country one of the following three ratings: Free, Part Free, Nor Free.

For 2006, the authors see a modest increase in freedom throughout the world, with some noteworthy positive gains in the Middle East (traditionally one of the least free parts of the world). There is also a brief expression of concern about subtle trends in the United States (some counter-terrorism actions since 9/11 as well as partisan gerrymandering of election districts that undermines the competitiveness of elections). In some European countries, the failure to effectively integrate non-European immigrants is seen as a subtle threat to freedom.

Who are the "worst of the worst"? The book notes the least free societies on the planet: Cuba, North Korea, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Libya, Syria, and Burma.

Another favorable feature of the book is its rating of every country. It provides basic data for each (e.g., per capita income, religious affiliations, ethnicity, population) and a rating on civil liberties and political rights. Examples? Afghanistan is rated 5 on political rights and 5 on civil liberties and is judged as "Part Free." The lack of freedom in many parts of the country outside the capital is listed as one key problem. Norway is rated 1 in each category and defined as "Free." And so on and so on.

In an earlier work, "Darwinism, Dominance, and Democracy," Al Somit and I used six different measures of democracy (Freedom House, Tatu Vanhanen's measure, the Polity measure, and so on). By our calculations, there were quite a few less democracies than one would expect from the Freedom House count.

Nonetheless, "Freedom in the World 2006" is an important reference and is most useful in understanding what is happening with freedom in the world, what the trends are, who the backsliders are, and so on. Well worth examining.

Excellent treatment of the concept of freedom of expression in Islam. Those who question islams commitment to this most important aspect of the human condition should definitely read this.

George Seldes, who died at the age of 104 in the mid-1990s, published "Freedom of the Press" in 1935 after an impressive tenure as a daily newspaper journalist from the teens through the through the 1920s, and just before reporting on the rise of fascism in Europe.
The book demonstrates Seldes' credentials as perhaps the pre-World War II era's foremost media critic, and a pioneer in investigative consumer reporting.
Seldes exposes, in "Freedom of the Press," the connections among big money, political influence, and news coverage. He takes on the pharmaceutical and utilities industries, Big Oil, and Wall Street. He critiques the media of the era and the struggle for journalists to report the kinds of stories Seldes later published in his muckraking newsletter "In Fact," a forerunner of "I.F. Stone's Weekly" and the present day's "CounterPunch" and "Hightower Lowdown."
Honest reporters' struggles with their own working conditions and the relations between organized labor and the media are also among Seldes' important topics. In addition to calling news media owners to account, he includes a "Roll of Honor" noting the models for journalistic integrity.
Readers of "Freedom of the Press" also will want to locate Seldes' other volumes, all of which contain, literally, the stories of a century. In fact (if you'll pardon the pun), one of those other volumes is titled "Witness To A Century," and another of note is "Never Tire of Protesting," in which the story of "In Fact" is told. Reading of Seldes' career is inspirational in any day.