The Militant Pacifists of World War II
War by Other Means tells the story of those conscientious objectors who did not cooperate with the government's alternative-service schemes.
Book Reviews
Libertarian History/Philosophy
The Founding Mothers of Libertarianism
Freedom's Furies tells how three women offered their own unique defenses of individual liberty and how their disagreements anticipated the differences among libertarians and classical liberals today.
Review: 'How Sex Changed the Internet and the Internet Changed Sex'
Samantha Cole's book is marred by vague animosity toward tech companies.
How the Fed Redistributed Wealth and Encouraged Reckless Corporate Behavior
The Lords of Easy Money argues that the Fed created an economy with nearly irresistible incentives for foolish choices.
Review: Time Meddling Becomes Altruism in Amazon's The Peripheral
It's the story of a distant future where rich denizens meddle in the affairs of the past.
Is There a Future for the City of Tomorrow?
The consequences of our obsession with urban dystopias and utopias
The Case for 50 Percent Open Borders
A call for restricting immigration in The Culture Transplant accidentally makes the case for radical liberalization.
How Venture Capital Made the Future
Sebastian Mallaby's The Power Law explores how venture capital and public policy helped shape modern technology.
Psychiatrists Do Not Know What They Are Treating
The mysteries of the mind are harder to unravel than psychiatrists pretend.
Review: Buckminster Fuller Helped Inspire Our Future
The new book Inventor of the Future prefers to show him as a credit hog.
Hayek Was a True Liberal
A new biography tells the story of the economist’s early life and career.
The Case for 50 Percent Open Borders
A call for restricting immigration accidentally makes the case for radical liberalization.
Comic: Robert A. Heinlein in The Moon Is a Hot Babe
An aeronautical engineer considers writing a novel about a new start on the moon.
Andy Weir Is Looking Forward to the Space Boom
Weir's books take seriously the limits of human knowledge and planning when it comes to space travel.
The End of Astronauts: Should We Send Robots to Space Instead?
Robots don't get cabin fever, develop cancer from cosmic radiation, miss their families, or go insane.
What We Owe the Future Is Liberalism
What does "longtermism" offer those of us who favor limited government and free markets?
Review: The Libertarianism of Firefly
What if our interplanetary future involved train heists, legal sex work, and a lot of running from the feds?
Review: 1947's Prelude to Space Envisioned We'd Be on Mars by Now
Reality has failed to match author Arthur C. Clarke's hopes.
The Fractal, Fractious Politics of The Expanse
Taking humanity from Earth to the stars isn't easy.
Robert Heinlein's Dream of Private Space Travel Is Coming True
A new generation of companies has made space travel affordable.
'Pro-Democracy' Journalism's Problem With the Facts
Influential media critic Margaret Sullivan demonstrates the perils of letting narrative get ahead of verification.
Review: Can Legal Weed Win? Yes, but Only Through Deregulation
Extreme taxes and regulations are hampering legal marijuana markets.
America's Biggest Political Division Isn't Left vs. Right
It's the superpolitical vs. everyone else.
Review: Antero Alli's Low-Budget Psychedelic Naturalism
Tracer takes mind control to a new level.
A Belated Vindication for School Reopeners
The Stolen Year acknowledges public school COVID failures but refuses to hold anyone responsible.
Review: Is Prison for Rehabilitation or Punishment?
High recidivism rates are not surprising when life in prison features the same factors that drive crime.
Should Libertarians Root for the Abolition of Police and Prisons?
Libertarians have some common ground with the abolitionists—but if they insist on anti-capitalism as a litmus test, abolitionists will find themselves isolated and marginalized.
Are We Past 'Peak Petrostate'?
It's the economics of energy production that make petrostates more trigger-happy, Emma Ashford argues in Oil, the State, and War.
The Feminist Dystopia Don't Worry Darling Isn't a Big Idea Movie. It's a Dumb Idea Movie.
A wannabe prestige picture that works better as a pulpy mind-trip.
Review: The Brutality of British Empire on Display in Legacy of Violence
Caroline Elkins' book raises an important question for people today, particularly liberals—an issue that Elkins herself sidesteps.
Thoughts on the First Episode of "House of the Dragon"
It's early going. But the first episode is a promising start to HBO's prequel to the famous "Game of Thrones" series.
A Belated Vindication for School Reopeners
The Stolen Year acknowledges the public schools' COVID failures but refuses to hold anyone responsible.
The Missing Cryptoqueen Details the Rise and Fall of Ruja Ignatova's OneCoin Con
Jamie Bartlett's gripping look at the schematics and psychology of a scam
The Progressive Imperialism of Smedley Butler
The Marine turned anti-imperialist had two very different legacies, but both clearly emerged from the same man.
A New History of the Old Right
On the American right, populism has always been lurking in the shadows.
The Quest for a Libertarian Island Paradise
Raymond B. Craib's new book recounts how Michael Oliver repeatedly tried to create a new country with a government funded entirely by voluntary contributions.
Obi-Wan Kenobi and the Era of Cultural Stagflation
On streaming and the big screen, we're paying more for less, even as new ideas seem few and far between.
In The Listeners, Brian Hochman Details History of Eavesdropping
Wiretapping and eavesdropping used to be the norm. Perhaps privacy was always an illusion after all.
Review: Junk Science and the American Criminal Justice System
M. Chris Fabricant's new book details how flawed techniques have led to numerous wrongful convictions.
Former New York Times Reporter Denies in New Book That Hugo Chávez Was a Socialist
A new book vividly portrays human beings coping with daily existence in a disintegrating society but offers an incoherent analysis of what went wrong.
David Cronenberg's Crimes of the Future Is a Gross-Out Sci-Fi Film About Bodily Autonomy
Disturbing, eerie, and strangely relevant, it's a return to form for the Canadian horror master.
Secret City Recounts the Gay History of D.C.
In his new book, James Kirchick focuses on homosexuals' relationship with national politics during a time when gays were banned from working for the federal government.
Book Review: The Dawn of Everything: A New History of Humanity
Early cities' concentrated populations and burgeoning scale didn't spontaneously summon pharaonic god-kings or bureaucrats.
Civilization Runs on Ammonia, Plastic, Steel, and Cement—for Now
Vaclav Smil’s How the World Really Works offers hope and despair for techno-optimists.
Review: The Second Shooter
Despite caricaturing (some) gun owners, Nick Mamatas' conspiracy-fueled science fiction novel avoids moralizing in favor of dark humor.