Are
you stumped about what to buy that special anti-statist in your
life this Christmas season? Here are a few items that would
be on my 2002 holiday "wish list," if I hadn't already
bought them for myself. (Yes, I am impossible to shop for.)

For
the History Buff

The
Ken Burns' Civil War phenomenon left a lot of people thinking
U.S. history began in 1860. But hard-core libertarians still love
a rousing chronicle of the American Revolution. And none's more
exhilarating and, well, libertarian than Murray N. Rothbard's
Conceived
in Liberty (Ludwig von Mises Institute, $100).

This
sweeping four-volume narrative of the American colonies and revolution
from 1620 to 1784 was first published over five years in the 1970s.
All four books went out of print quickly, and the lucky stiffs who
had copies clutched them like Winona Ryder to an oversized
purse. I spent a decade scouring used book stores until the Mises
Institute reissued this wonderful set two years ago. Conceived
in Liberty is breathtaking. It's inspiring. Writes Rothbard
in his preface: "I see the central conflict [in American history]
as not between classes (social or economic), or between ideologies,
but between Power and Liberty, State and Society."

A
History of Money and Banking in the United States: The Colonial
Era to World War II (Mises Institute, $19) is a wonderful
new contribution to the Murray Rothbard canon. A collection of hard-to-find
and previously unpublished pieces, the father of modern libertarianism
brings to banking history – an ongoing struggle between big
corporate capitalists, always in cahoots with government –
the same anecdotal approach he did to the American Revolution. From
the villainous Alexander Hamilton's use of banking to centralize
power, to the Morgan and Rockefeller financial interests' shaping
of the Federal Reserve, and through the New Deal, this book offers
the dramatic, grim story of the most lethal enemies of the free
market, Wall Street's "economic royalists."

For
the Videophile

Oliver
Stone usually embodies the very worst in shallow Hollywood leftism,
but his 1991 masterwork, JFK,
is both exciting moviemaking and the most satisfying summary of
Kennedy assassination revisionism ever assembled. Warner Video's
"Special Edition Director's Cut" DVD makes the film even
more valuable. It includes a feature-length commentary from
Stone, in which he fully details government lies about November
22, 1963, plus documentary films and an interview with the model
for the movie's "Mr. X," Colonel L. Fletcher Prouty, who
served as the chief of special operations for the Joint Chiefs of
Staff during the JFK years.

If
JFK is Stone's Godfather,
and I think it is, 1995's Nixon
is his Godfather,
Part II. This was a box office dud, but it's still extraordinary
– a well-honed attack on the Imperial Presidency and a brilliant
analysis of the workings and inevitable destructiveness of government.
The film's only real fault is in rerunning the tired myth that a
"watchdog" press brought Nixon down, when what really
clobbered him were the counter-powers existing within the heart
of what Stone calls The Beast (a.k.a. The State). Again, the "Director's
Cut" DVD, this time from Buena Vista Home Entertainment, is
essential. It includes two feature-length commentaries by
Oliver Stone, a separate interview with Stone, and 28 minutes of
until now unseen footage that's been seamlessly reinserted into
the movie. One of those "deleted scenes," a fictional
but entirely plausible meeting between Nixon (played by the magnificent
Anthony Hopkins) and CIA Director Richard Helms (an effectively
oily portrayal by Sam Waterston), is one of the most chilling bits
of cinema I can recall.

For
the Rock 'n Roller

I
was a high school junior, and Murray Rothbard, Karl Hess, and Paul
Goodman were starting to stir my political thinking. But in the
fall of 1970, it was Paul Kantner's science fiction rock anthem
Blows
Against the Empire (RCA Records) that stoked the revolutionary
inferno in my gut. Jefferson Airplane was always an explicitly anarchist
band, but this Airplane spin-off was something else again. Its scenario
included dodging the government jackboot, hijacking a starship,
launching into space, and freely colonizing the stars. More than
30 years later and available as a remastered CD, Blows Against
the Empire seems fanciful as hell, but gee, we were all
fanciful as hell back in the '60s, and the music still sounds great.
And with Homeland Security muscling into our lives, we could do
worse than share Kantner's rock manifesto with younger libertarians,
or re-experience it ourselves.

For
the Caped Crusader

Who'da
thunk that one of the best libertarian books of the year would be
a graphic novel – i.e., a comic book mini-series? But Frank
Miller finally followed up his landmark Batman:
The Dark Knight Returns, which shook the comics industry
by its cape and leotard in 1986, with a much-anticipated sequel.
And what a knockout it is! Batman:
The Dark Knight Strikes Again (DC Comics, $29.95) compiles
within sturdy hard covers the three comics that made up the recent
series. In the story's post-punk future, Batman isn't kicking "run-of-the
mill" criminal butt like Joker and Two-Face anymore. You see,
even though the Dow Jones soars past 50,000, crime is nil, and the
world's at peace, tyranny lies beneath the surface. The President
is just a computer-generated image that fronts for a sinister partnership
between Lex Luthor and Brainiac. Superman and Wonder Woman are military
lapdogs to the U.S. Government, hiding the truth for "the good
of the people." And it's fallen to Batman, the world's last
freedom-fighter, to assemble the troops (Green Arrow, the Flash,
Plastic Man, and other heroes) and launch the Revolution! Miller
is faithful to the libertarian spirit throughout. In fact, when
he resurrects The Question, it's Steve Ditko's classic Randian hero
from the late '60s, not the wimpy reinterpretation of the character
from 15 years ago.

And
here's another gift idea for the libertarian Batman fan. DC Direct
offers a nifty six-piece set of Dark Knight Strikes Again
collectible PVC figures ($39.95). The set includes Batman, Catgirl,
Superman, Wonder Woman, the Atom, and Lex Luthor. They look real
cool sitting atop my computer monitor.

Happy
shopping.

November
20, 2002

Wally
Conger [send him mail] is a
marketing consultant and writer living on California's central coast.
He has a
website, www.WConger.com.