Liberty Books

In a time when patriotic feelings run deep, the Statue of Liberty represents our history and hopes for the future. This book blends the past and present into a work that creates a connection between you and Lady Liberty. The photography is exceptional. The photographer uses vistas and angles that few have ever seen. His use of color and light paint the Statue in unique combinations.

While the photography alone makes the book a treasure, the story of the restoration is captivating. The personal perspectives and dedication of those involved in the restoration, give the reader a whole new appreciaiton for this massive undertaking.

I'm proud to keep this book on my coffee table. Friends who pick it up, don't just comment about the incredible photography, they sit and read the stories and history. I've developed a great new respect for the Great Lady Liberty.

Editor Wendy McElroy is one of the leading lights of 'ifeminism' (a term she coined) -- feminism with an individualist, libertarian emphasis, as opposed to the collectivist, group-rights orientation of more traditional, left-leaning feminism. In place of the tired old orthodoxies of today's victim-feminism, the provocative, insightful, and energetic essays collected here reveal a feminism fit for the twenty-first century.

I admire Wendy McElroy a lot, and so particularly looked forward to her contributions to this collection. But the other writers she assembled are also quite good. I especially enjoyed the first three chapters, in which McElroy, Camille Paglia, and Richard Epstein lay the foundations of ifeminism. From there, different sections address ifeminism as it relates to sex, work, the home, violence and victim disarmament (aka 'gun control') and, finally, technology. Of the issue-oriented sections, this last one was particularly good. I especially appreciated Janis Cortese's 'The Third WWWave: Who We Are, What We See' -- a defiant, even angry, call to 'second generation' feminists to take this new, rising tide of ifeminists seriously.

Much of what you'll read here runs counter to received feminist wisdom: it's pro-market, pro-gun, anti-'comparable worth,' and profoundly skeptical about the evolution of sexual harassment law. It's pro-choice, but doesn't consider abortion a sacrament, as much of traditional feminism seems to. To borrow a too-often-paraphrased TV ad, this is not your mother's feminism.

Regardless of whether you're male or female, how you define feminism, or what your opinions of it may be, Wendy McElroy and her fellow contributors have outlined a new vision of feminism. It may well change the terms of debate entirely. Let's hope so.

Helen Nader's 1990 book, Liberty in Absolutist Spain: The Habsburg Sale of Towns, 1516-1700, we are introduced to many case studies that are lifelike and full of a lot of detail. Nader introduces the term perpetual decentralization as a way of describing the political infactions in Habsburg Spain. During times of desperate need such as funding a war, the authorities needed to make timely tax pickups. This information is new in the field of Habsburg studies. Habsburg studies had not been a hot topic since the nineteenth century but Nader has brought it to the forefront.
Nader illustrates who the Castilian villages obtained charters which gave them municipal status and their struggle to maintain their independence. This struggle is mirrored by another society that existed during their same period, and that is the America's. Considering the two societies came into contact via Columbus, it is not mentioned. Nader does not discuss the 'outer world' but rather focuses on Castile under the Habsburgs. She does however, relate the Habsburg rule to that of all of Spain. She compares the towns that maintained their autonomy to those that lost theirs to the government.

This book offers a new perspective of absolutism that William Beik does not cover. Nader's analysis is a breath of fresh air for anyone that has had to read article after article about absolutism, she brings the idea that absolutism is not an entirely bad thing rather it is benefiticial to both the government and society.

The Liberty Lobby, founded by Nazi sympathizer Willis Carto(who later founded the Institute for Historical Review, theprincipal Holocaust revision group), was once a moderately influential, if somewhat muscular, conservative group. It isn't anymore. Frank Mintz's excellent history chronicles the Lobby's change from semi-respectable conservatives into conspiracy-mongering paranoids with a soft spot for ex-Nazis. Particularly interesting is Mintz's account of the Lobby's feud with the National Review. Anyone who wants to understand the radical right should read this.

This is a book about maturity - and about the strange chains which bind any Christian, and prevent his achieving maturity as a person.

There seems to be a crossroad - a sort of turning point - when the Christian may decide to play it safe and remain in subservience to manmade custom, or when he may decide to trust God fully, and exert a new kind of courage...to believe that God must interpret His word to His people.

If we decide to go on to maturity Mrs. Elliot says "We may find ourselves on the wrong side of some man-made fences, but this is a part of the risk of following him without reservation, of doing the truth, and of unconditionally committing our case to God".

Elisabeth Elliot realized all this when she lived for a silent year with the Auca Indians. During this year when silence, the consequence of lack of knowledge of the language, allowed her to think deeply about the meaning of commitment to Christ, she realized that she must commit a grave error if she merely superimposed onto this primitive culture her Stateside ideas of good and evil.

She began to realize that the Christian who has all the answers, the Christian who sees things as all black or all white, just might possibly be the Christian who is so rigid in his obedience, who is permanently bound to a perpetual immaturity.

For those with a libertarian bent looking for something to challenge their fundamental assumptions about liberty and democracy, I highly recommend this book. Kuehnelt-Leddihn separates the values of liberty fr om democracy, laying out a detailed, well reasoned argument for why democracy not only not the best for of government for ensuring liberty, but in fact the worst. Not necessarily utterly convincing to an American reader, but fascinating nevertheless. The second half of the book deals with the historical trends and political developments that lead up to the formation and rise of the National Socialists in Germany and Austria. Written in the 50's, it offers a different, more holistic story of the rise of the party, and links it firmly to the (Non-National) Socialist movement of contemporary Europe. Not for those looking for "something to read by the pool," but for any fan of liberty and political theory, a must read.

Liberty Rising: The Story Of The Statue Of Liberty receives fine drawings by Wade Zahares as it explores the origins, construction and meaning of America's symbol of liberty. Kids with good reading skills in grades 3-5 will learn of how the idea came to a French law professor, how it was funded, and how it grew in France, to be shipped in pieces to America. Fine color drawings throughout and a vivid writing style bring the facts to life.

1767, Norfolk Borough Virginia Colony

LIBERTY ROSE is a delightful tale of a beautiful high-spirited, but down to earth chambermaid that makes an agreement that will forever change her life! Anthony Fielding is a devastatingly handsome British loyalist, brilliant shipwright and a disreputable rake with a soul full of wounds and love of overdrinking.

Anthony's grandfather was making a trip to the Virginia Colony with only one intention on his mind...to see that Anthony married. Anthony's perceptive top-notched valet, Hiram Feathers, found the lovely Liberty Rose just the perfect miss to tame the restless soul of his employer and thus proposed that Liberty pose as Master Fielding's intended bride to the tune of 500 and five pounds while Anthony's grandfather was visiting. Out of work and in desperate need of money to keep her dear revolutionary and daffy Aunt Ophelia out of debtor's prison; Liberty agreed to the deception with one condition, Aunt Ophelia would accompany her to the Fielding Manor. What Liberty didn't expect was to immediately fall in love with Anthony and he never expected the little minx to suddenly seem just what he needed...and wanted.

This book brought everything that David Robbins has to offer. You get action, laughs, and even a little bit of romance coming from an unsuspecting source ( Houston Run/Lynx ). Both Houston run and Liberty run give you yours of reading excitement.

I am a huge Naval Ship History enthusiast,and one of the areas of my interest is "Liberty Ships". This book offers specific detail from the minute the keel was laid up to the time and place of the "scrapping of the vessel."
I was looking of a book that described in detail what happened to each Liberty ship after the war.....and this book offers you when it was sold, to what nation, what flag it was flying....and all the name changes that go along with the life to the vessel. I was very impressed with the quality of the book....and to me it was well worth the price. Some may find it expensive, but to me it is a book that will be with me until I am no longer able to gaze upon the print....a treasure is what this book is to me.