History needn't be boring

I confess. Until now, I haven’t even touched a copy of Murray Rothbard’s two-volume History of Economic Thought. First, it’s been out of print for quite some time and impossible to find. Second, it cost $200 or more to own a copy. So I’ve contented myself by reading and re-reading Murray’s other books.

Well, the Mises Institute has now released an affordable edition of the Rothbard masterwork. Just 45 bucks! Hooray! Roderick Long says, “While I have some quarrels with a few of Rothbard’s interpretations (I think he’s a bit rough on Plotinus and Adam Smith, for instance), this history is a treasure; Rothbard explores vast reaches of intellectual history that most accounts of economic thought ignore completely (lots of material on the Scholastics and the French liberals, a lengthy section on Molinari, etc.), and does so in his usual lively and engaging manner. If you think a thousand-plus-page history of economics can’t be an exciting page-turner, think again.”

LMI also has made available audio recordings of six highly entertaining and educational Rothbard lectures that dipped heavily into the research that was to make up a third volume on Marx, the Austrians, and up through Hayek.

Order the two-volume History here. Order the lectures here.

I plan to place my order promptly upon my return from Hawaii. More on that later.