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 A collection of hard-to-find and previously unpublished pieces, the father of modern libertarianism brings to banking history – an ongoing struggle between big corporate capitalists, always in cahoots with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.
