Government

“The State is a gang of thieves writ large.” —Murray N. Rothbard

Murray Rothbard’s “The Anatomy of the State,” 1974. For an audio version of the essay, check this out.

Following Franz Oppenheimer and Albert Jay Nock, Rothbard regards the state as a predatory entity. It does not produce anything, but rather steals resources from those engaged in production. In applying this view to American history, Rothbard makes use of the work of John C. Calhoun.

Death by Government: Genocide and Mass Murder Since 1900, R.J. Rummel, 1994.

–Death by Government is a good introduction to the general phenomena of state-sponsored mass murder or democide (Rummel’s concept). The numerous case studies are a mixture of carefully wrought descriptions of the horrendous suffering of peoples under daily authoritarian political systems, with just the right dose of personal horror stories to make the book a memorable study of human deprivation and misery. For this effort, Rummel ought to be applauded.-

–Barbara Harff, the Journal of Interdisciplinary History