Radicals for Capitalism: A Freewheeling History of the Modern American Libertarian Movement

Radicals for Capitalism will take its place alongside other key books about American ideological and political movements.

Brian Doherty
David Boaz

David Boaz was a distinguished senior fellow of the Cato Institute and played a key role in the development of the Cato Institute and the libertarian movement. He was the author of The Libertarian Mind: A Manifesto for Freedom and the editor of The Libertarian Reader.

Boaz was a provocative commentator and a leading authority on domestic issues such as education choice, drug legalization, the growth of government, and the rise of libertarianism. Boaz was the former editor of New Guard magazine and was executive director of the Council for a Competitive Economy prior to joining Cato in 1981. The earlier edition of The Libertarian Mind, titled Libertarianism: A Primer, was described by the Los Angeles Times as “a well-​researched manifesto of libertarian ideas.” His other books include The Politics of Freedom and the Cato Handbook for Policymakers.

His articles have been published in the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Los Angeles Times, National Review, and Slate, and he wrote the entry on libertarianism for Encyclopedia Britannica. He was a frequent guest on national television and radio shows and has appeared on ABC’s Politically Incorrect with Bill Maher, CNN’s Crossfire, NPR’s Talk of the Nation and All Things Considered, The McLaughlin Group, Stossel, The Independents, Fox News, BBC, Voice of America, Radio Free Europe, and other media.

E. J. Dionne Jr.

Featuring the author, Brian Doherty; with comments by E. J. Dionne Jr., Columnist, Washington Post, Senior Fellow, Brookings Institution; and moderator David Boaz, Executive Vice President, Cato Institute, Author, Libertarianism: A Primer. For the first time, the history of the modern libertarian movement is presented in one comprehensive book. Reason editor Brian Doherty has pored through archives across the country and conducted dozens of interviews. The result is a book that moves smoothly from the ideas of Ludwig von Mises, Ayn Rand, and F. A. Hayek to the growth of libertarian think tanks to the factional feuds within the Libertarian Party. Every reader, no matter how well informed, will learn things from this book. Radicals for Capitalism will take its place alongside other key books about American ideological and political movements.