"My thesis," Leonard Read informs us in this remarkable book, "in simplest terms, is: Let anyone do anything he pleases, so long as it is peaceful; the role of government, then, is to keep the peace." Just so. This book is a classic, compelling statement of the political philosophy of libertarianism and statement of the guiding principles of the Foundation for Economic Education.

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Leonard Read was a great spokesman for liberty, and an excellent teacher in the second half of the 20th century. Everyone agrees that this is his most inspired collection. It includes the essay later called "I, Pencil," which is a masterful description of the workings of the division of labor. His constant theme was that it takes human cooperation across the globe under conditions of liberty to produce even the most seemingly simple object. We dare not take it for granted. It was Read's lifetime conviction that we all overestimate the...

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Leonard E. Read was the founder of the Foundation for Economic Education and consistent defender of liberty and personal responsibility. This book was originally published by FEE in 1968.

LARGE PRINT EDITION More at LargePrintLiberty.com. "Progression or advancement never graces anyone who succumbs to the notion that he has arrived-'has it made, ' as we say. This mortal moment, if seen aright, is featured by growth in awareness, perception consciousness, day in and day out. To act otherwise is to write one's own death sentence-life's high purpose abandoned. It is well to remember that 'tall oaks from little acorns grow, ' and that emerging, evolving man spawns from 'ye that dwell in dust.' Let each of us confess that this is our dwelling. To 'awake and sing' is the...

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In this book, Leonard Read discusses the idealistic foundations of the United States and how those foundations are crumbling right before the eyes of the people. Read addresses topics such as social order, the tendency for individuals to thrive and create in a free environment, entrepreneurship, and many others. The title derives its name from a Thoreau quote regarding human ideals: "If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put foundations under them." Leonard Read...

LARGE PRINT EDITION More at LargePrintLiberty.com. Libertarians may seem few and far between today, but they are not nearly as isolated now as they were when Leonard Read (1898-1983) was working to spread the freedom philosophy. Yet, although Read saw socialism spreading all around, he knew it was a "surface phenomenon," and that under the surface, the liberty movement was growing. This gave him the hope for the future that he needed to keep at his mission in life. Working with such giants as Ludwig von Mises and Henry Hazlitt, Read, through his Foundation for Economics Education helped lay...