A 4th of July Reading List.

Wess Haubrich

Jul 5, 2018·2 min read

While many modern ideas in politics have done quite a bit to enslave humanity, I find it instructive every 4th of July to re-examine some of the great literature that helped free humanity.

These pro-liberty selections from and influenced by the Enlightenment (or influencing the Enlightenment) on a variety of subjects are always poised to free us again if only we would listen and re-orient to their wisdom. They should be read by everyone who values individual freedom.

This is but an incomplete start and will be updated periodically as I have time.

All sources below are free reads, readily available online.

1. John Locke, 2 Treatises of Government & A Letter Concerning Toleration
2. More on Locke’s Theory of Self-Ownership which directly influenced “Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness” which was “Life, Liberty and Property” … which leads into:
3. The Declaration of Independence.
4. The US Constitution.
5. Thomas Paine Common Sense.
6. Adam Smith The Wealth of Nations.
7. Smith, Lectures on Police, Justice, Revenue and Arms.
8. Frederic Bastiat, The Law.
9. Bastiat, The Candlestick Makers Petition.
10. The Federalist Papers.
11. The Anti-Federalist Papers.
12. Baron de Montesquieu, Complete Works.
13. David Hume, On Government.
14. John Stuart Mill, Utilitarianism.
15. Mill, On Liberty.
16. Mill, The Principles of Political Economy.
17. Mill, On Socialism.
18. Herbert Spencer, The Right to Ignore the State.
19. Spencer, The Man Versus the State.
20. Mary Wollstonecraft, A Vindication of the Rights of Women.
21. Alexis de Tocqueville, Democracy and America.
22. de Tocqueville, On Socialism.
23. Voltaire, Political Writings.
24. On Voltaire’s fierce use of satire.
25. John Trenchard, Cato’s Letters.
26. Benedict de Spinoza, Chief Works.
27. Lysander Spooner, A Defense for Fugitive Slaves.
28. Spooner, No Treason.
29. Edmund Burke, Further Reflections on the French Revolution.
30. Ludwig von Mises, Liberalism of the Classical Tradition.
31. von Mises, Economic Freedom and Interventionism.
32. von Mises, Human Action.
33. von Mises, On the Manipulation of Money & Credit.
34. William Graham Sumner, The Challenge of Facts and Other Essays.
35. Sumner, The Forgotten Man.
36. Thomas Jefferson, The Jefferson Cyclopedia.
37. Friedrich A. Hayek, The Road to Serfdom.
38. Karl Popper, The Open Society and its Enemies.
39. Thomas Kuhn, The Structure of Scientific Revolutions.
40. James Mill, Commerce Defended.
41. Murray Rothbard, America’s Great Depression.
42. Rothbard, For a New Liberty.
43. Thomas Aquinas, The Ethics of Natural Law from the Summa Theologica.
44. The Writings of Cicero.
45. Lao-Tzu, The Tao Te Ching. — betcha didn’t expect to see that one on this list.