[396] in libertarians
Laissez Faire Book News: Roy Childs' LIBERTY AGAINST POWER
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Chris Whitten)
Sat Nov 12 13:04:36 1994
Date: Sat, 12 Nov 1994 12:59:41 -0500 (EST)
From: Chris Whitten <lfb@panix.com>
Apparently-To: <libertarians@mit.edu>
Roy Childs' great passion and eloquence for liberty
LIBERTY AGAINST POWER
Essays by Roy A. Childs, Jr.
edited with an introduction by Joan Kennedy Taylor
foreword by Thomas S. Szasz
(reviewed by Ralph Raico)
Veteran readers of Laissez Faire Books know Roy Childs very
well. From 1984 to his death in 1992, Roy *was* Laissez Faire
Books: he was its editor, chief reviewer, and overall animating
spirit. To thousands of readers of this publication all over the
world, Roy's passing has meant the stilling of a unique and much-
admired voice.
But some of Roy's fans may be unaware of his earlier career
as a libertarian writer and lecturer, or of the immense influence
his essays and talks exercised on the libertarian movement. Now
Joan Kennedy Taylor has made available to us, and to future
generations, the best of Roy's written thought. This is a true
labor of love--Joan was Roy's dearest friend--but it is also a
work of scholarship. Roy's many devoted friends, as well as
libertarians everywhere, are indebted to Joan for her many months
of conscientious editorial work.
*Liberty Against Power* consists of nineteen of Roy's
essays. They range in time from an attack on the draft written
when Roy was in his late-teens, to the prelude to an unfinished
"refutation" of anarcho-capitalism composed in his last years.
The theoretical essays--on libertarianism and its traditions, on
authentic capitalism, on civil liberties as property rights, and
on behalf of the totally voluntary society as against Ayn Rand
and Robert Nozick--are powerful polemics. Other essays deal with
more specific topics on which Roy was a recognized libertarian
authority, such as aspects of U.S. foreign policy and the war on
drugs. Ayn Rand's death in 1982 furnished the occasion for a
thoughtful analysis of her enduring legacy and her place in the
libertarian movement--perennial concerns of Roy's. The editor has
appropriately included pieces on music--Roy's great love--and on
a couple of his favorite authors. Like all the essays in this
exciting book, they brim with what Joan Kennedy Taylor rightly
calls Roy's "unquenchable enthusiasm". The volume is accompanied
by a perceptive preface by another of Roy's friends, Dr. Thomas
Szasz, and an informative introduction by the editor, sketching
Roy's life and career.
*Liberty Against Power* is a fitting memorial to a great
libertarian and a great man. In its pages you will hear Roy's
voice. Whether you knew him in the flesh or not, listening to Roy
speak out in the cause of liberty will be an illuminating,
moving, and ever-fresh experience. To use one of Roy's favorite
reviewer-expressions: This book *sizzles*.
"Roy always reminded me of the great 19th century
journalist-writers, a kind of combination of Walt Whitman and
William Leggett: a self-taught man with a huge appetite for life,
for experience, for art, for truth, for the well-turned phrase
and the polemical thrust." --David Kelley
* * *
"Roy was a kind, loving, generous and benevolent man. He was
gifted intellectually to a very high degree... I cannot think of
him without warmth and affection." --Nathaniel Branden
* * *
"Roy desperately, passionately wanted the forces of freedom
and liberty to prevail... He had a soul of pure gold and we shall
miss him dearly." --Ed Crane
* * *
"Though I seldom saw Roy, I often communicated with him,
always to my benefit. He was a rare human being whose
contribution to our common cause will be greatly missed."
--Milton Friedman
* * *
"Everyone I know, who knew Roy, has asked the same question.
'Who can replace him?' And everyone has said 'No one can replace
him'... They meant that he is not replaceable in the oceanic
depth and width of his knowledge of the literature of liberty."
--Karl Hess
* * *
"Roy was not like us. He valued neither health nor wealth.
Roy loved liberty like a lover loves his beloved. The lover finds
happiness in loving rather than in being loved. Roy found
happiness in loving liberty. It was not possible to love liberty,
to know Roy, and to not love him." --Thomas S. Szasz
Book No. LI6182 (paperback) 290p. $14.95
LI6183 (hardcover) $24.95
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*Liberty Against Power* will be available about November 25th.
You can order it now. Call toll free 1-800-326-0996 or (415) 541-9780,
fax (415) 541-0597 or write to: Laissez Faire Books, Dept. L28, 938
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TO ORDER VIA E-MAIL: Simply reply to LFB@panix.com, or write to Eric
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For your security, we do ask that you first call and leave us your credit
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If you have any questions or comments, feel free to let me know.
Thank you,
Chris
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Chris Whitten LFB@panix.com
Laissez Faire Books 1-800-326-0996
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