Cato on Campus - History

Banished: 'The Forsaken' by Tim Tzouliadis

Thu, 07 Aug 2008 09:49:00 EDT

Reviewed by Richard Pipes: "Most of these expatriates, not intellectuals but simple working men, were quickly disenchanted and wanted to return home, only to find that Moscow considered them Soviet citizens and barred them from leaving. Ignored by the American government, many of them ended in the gulag."

Crying Wolf: Are we all fascists now?

Tue, 15 Jul 2008 11:46:00 EDT

By Michael C. Moynihan: "To anyone that has attended a political demonstration, trawled a blog, or attended a Western university in the past half century, the scattershot use of 'fascist' will ring familiar. And almost as clich�d as accusing an ideological opponent of fascist sympathies is the accurate observation that such charges often demonstrate an utter lack of understanding of just what qualifies as fascist, other than 'someone I vehemently disagree with.'"

The Klein Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Polemics

Mon, 16 Jun 2008 17:49:00 EDT

By Johan Norberg: "To make her case, Klein exaggerates the free-market reforms that take place in times of crisis, often by ignoring central events and rewriting chronologies. She uses loose metaphors and wild distortions to claim that free markets are a form of violence. She confuses libertarianism with corporatism and neoconservatism and blames Milton Friedman for encouraging reform by stealth. To do so, she engages in one of the most malevolent distortions of a thinker that has been done in a major work in recent years."

Narcissists With Nukes

Fri, 06 Jun 2008 11:46:00 EDT

By Shawn Macomber: "Should Cato Institute Senior Editor Gene Healy's wonderfully informative, perception shifting examination of the wayward American executive, The Cult of the Presidency, receive the attention it so richly deserves, however, it may serve as a perfect literary tonic for our historical and cultural amnesia. Perhaps Healy, armed with a persuasive, good-natured outrage, will even inspire some among us toward a more narrow definition of presidential virtuousness and, by extension, broaden the conception of our own."

Everyone in Favor, Say Yargh!

Mon, 12 May 2008 15:34:00 EDT

By Joanna Weiss: "Long before they made their way into the workings of modern government, the democratic tenets we hold so dear were used to great effect on pirate ships. Checks and balances. Social insurance. Freedom of expression. So Leeson, an economics professor at George Mason University, will argue in his upcoming book, The Invisible Hook: The Hidden Economics of Pirates."

Bernstein on the History of Trade

Thu, 01 May 2008 09:18:00 EDT

"William Bernstein talks with EconTalk host Russ Roberts about the history of trade. Drawing on the insights from his recent book, A Splendid Exchange: How Trade Shaped the World, Bernstein talks about the magic of spices, how trade in sugar explain why Jews ended up in Manhattan, the real political economy of the Boston Tea Party and the demise of the Corn Laws in England."

Inventing Alexander Hamilton: The troubling embrace of the founder of American finance

Fri, 14 Dec 2007 10:30:00 EST

By William Hogeland: "Now, a Hamilton revival is not only under way but an accomplished fact. Wrestling anew with Hamilton�s contributions to national politics and economics could be both fascinating and worthwhile. But Neo-Hamiltonians, like the latter-day Jeffersonians of the �30s and �40s, have been eagerly chopping up the past to make it conform to their political aims."

Taking Marriage Private

Tue, 27 Nov 2007 15:44:00 EST

By Stephanie Coontz: "Why do people � gay or straight � need the state�s permission to marry? For most of Western history, they didn�t, because marriage was a private contract between two families. The parents� agreement to the match, not the approval of church or state, was what confirmed its validity."

The Lie About Where Che Lies

Thu, 08 Nov 2007 09:36:00 EST

By Alvaro Vargas Llosa: "It is not surprising, of course, that Che Guevara's remains are a myth. Everything about this modern saint is a myth -- his love of justice, his romantic disposition, his goodness."

History of Religion

Sun, 28 Oct 2007 01:21:00 EDT

How has the geography of religion evolved over the centuries, and where has it sparked wars? This map gives you a brief history of the world's most well-known religions: Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, and Judaism. Selected periods of inter-religious bloodshed are also highlighted. Want to see 5,000 years of religion in 90 seconds? Ready, Set, Go!

The Question of Monopolies

Fri, 26 Oct 2007 14:24:00 EDT

By Nathaniel Branden. A reader asks "In a society of laissez-faire capitalism, what would prevent the formation of powerful monopolies able to gain control over the entire economy?"

What FDR Had In Common With the Other Charismatic Collectivists of the 30s

Mon, 08 Oct 2007 12:42:00 EDT

By David Boaz: "When economic crisis hit � in Italy and Germany after World War I, in the United States with the Great Depression � the anti-liberals seized the opportunity, arguing that the market had failed and that the time for bold experimentation had arrived."

Alexis de Tocqueville

Wed, 26 Sep 2007 10:25:00 EDT

A site about the life and work of Alexis de Tocqueville, one of the great modern political thinkers and an inspiration to classical liberals ever since. This site gives detailed biographical information as well as images and text in English and in French.

Petraeus, the Surge & History

Mon, 24 Sep 2007 16:13:00 EDT

"Many have repeated the claim that Iraq is Vietnam all over again. History never repeats itself exactly, so no example is perfect. But the American surge in Iraq bears a striking and little-noted resemblance to the Germans' ill-fated offensive in the last year of World War I."

The History of Economic Thought Website

Tue, 11 Sep 2007 14:04:00 EDT

This web site serves as a repository of collected links and information on the history of economic thought, from the ancient times until the modern day. It is designed for students and the general public, who are interested in learning about economics from a historical perspective.

The Tradition of Spontaneous Order

Wed, 29 Aug 2007 00:00:00 EDT

By Norman Barry: It is not that the theory of spontaneous order precludes planning as such; it is that only planning by individuals in decentralized markets will tend towards an optimal use of knowledge. The central planner has only that knowledge available to him, which is less than that which is co-ordinated among all the agents in a market process. Furthermore, because the future is unknowable, a system that relies on liberty allows for the accidental and spontaneous.

Libertarianism: A Primer

Wed, 29 Aug 2007 00:00:00 EDT

David Boaz presents the essential guidebook to the libertarian perspective, detailing its roots, central tenets, solutions to contemporary policy dilemmas, and future in American politics. He confronts head-on the tough questions frequently posed to libertarians: What about inequality? Who protects the environment? What ties people together if they are essentially self interested? A concluding section, "Are you a Libertarian?" gives readers a chance to explore the substance of their own beliefs. Libertarianism is must reading for understanding one of the most exciting and hopeful movements of our time.

'Knowing' Industrial Pollution: Nuisance Law and the Power of Tradition in a Time of Rapid Economic Change, 1840 � 1864

Wed, 29 Aug 2007 00:00:00 EDT

Experience shows that Common Law and Private Property Rights can be an alternative to top-down regulation on air pollution. In this essay, Christine Meisner Rosen examines nuisance law "from the perspective of an environmental historian who is interested in how people made sense of industrial pollution problems in the past."

The Common Law: How it protects the environment

Wed, 29 Aug 2007 00:00:00 EDT

"The purpose of this PERC Policy Series paper is to show, by examining specific cases in American and English history, that strong legal traditions enabled ordinary citizens to protect their air, land, and water, often against politically potent parties."