Defending the Undefendable

Description

LARGE PRINT EDITION More at LargePrintLiberty.com Professor Block's book is in a new edition from the Mises Institute, completely reset and beautifully laid out in an edition worthy of its contents. It is among the most famous of the great defenses of victimless crimes and controversial economic practices, from profiteering and gouging to bribery and blackmail. However, beneath the surface, this book is also an outstanding work of microeconomic theory that explains the workings of economic forces in everyday events and affairs. Murray Rothbard explains why: "Defending the Undefendable performs the service of highlighting, the fullest and starkest terms, the essential nature of the productive services performed by all people in the free market. By taking the most extreme examples and showing how the Smithian principles work even in these cases, the book does far more to demonstrate the workability and morality of the free market than a dozen sober tomes on more respectable industries and activities. By testing and proving the extreme cases, he all the more illustrates and vindicates the theory." F.A. Hayek agreed, writing the author as follows: "Looking through Defending the Undefendable made me feel that I was once more exposed to the shock therapy by which, more than fifty years ago, the late Ludwig von Mises converted me to a consistent free market position. ... Some may find it too strong a medicine, but it will still do them good even if they hate it. A real understanding of economics demands that one disabuses oneself of many dear prejudices and illusions. Popular fallacies in economics frequently express themselves in unfounded prejudices against other occupations, and showing the falsity of these stereotypes you are doing a real services, although you will not make yourself more popular with the majority."

Get the book

Amazon.com

Search the book

eBay.com

Search the book

Other editions

• 

  Defending the Undefendable

  • - pages
  • Ebook
  • Ludwig von Mises Institute

Similar books

• 

  Defending the Undefendable III

  By Walter E. Block

  Weaved throughout, this book uses political philosophy to present three fundamental premises to explain this libertarian point of view. Firstly, this book defines the non-aggression principle (NAP).

• 

  Private Production of Defense, The

  Private Production of Defense, The

• 

  Indefensible: One Lawyer's Journey Into the Inferno of American Justice

  By David Feige

  A former Trial Chief of the Bronx Defenders recounts an ordinary day in the life of a South Bronx public defender, citing encounters with a range of factors, from dramatic courtroom battles and threatening defendants to unscrupulous lawyers ...

• 

  Good Luck Frenchy: A Tale of RCMP Deception & Survival Through Thailand's Deadliest Prison

  By Alain Olivier

  Surely this is not how the police behave to get their man? But...what if they go further? What if, with the aid of a thuggish civil agent, the RCMP implement a buy and bust operation, a Final Solution to get rid of you?

• 

  Devil's Defender: My Odyssey Through American Criminal Justice from Ted Bundy to the Kandahar Massacre

  By John Browne

  James C. Marshall, the military lead on a new governmentfunded engineering program. What exactly the program was, the colonel couldn't say. It was secret. But it was a onceinalifetime opportunity for a twentytwoyearold man with a new ...

• 

  The Ethics of Anarcho-Capitalism

  By Kristopher A. Borer

  Anarcho-capitalism is the most exciting social philosophy of modern times. But how does it work? This book illuminates the ethical system at the heart of anarcho-capitalism.

• 

  Everything Voluntary: From Politics to Parenting

  By Skyler J. Collins

  In politics, this is the ruling class, i.e., politicians and bureaucrats, over the ruled. In education and parenting, this is teachers or parents over their children.

• 

  Defending the Devil: My Story As Ted Bundy's Last Lawyer

  By Polly Nelson

  Part legal drama, part personal memoir, and part psychological portrait of an irredeemable monster, this is an absorbing page turner that you won't be able to put down.

• 

  What Has Government Done to Our Money?

  By Murray Newton Rothbard

  What Has Government Done to Our Money?

• 

  Water Capitalism: The Case for Privatizing Oceans, Rivers, Lakes, and Aquifers

  By Walter E. Block, Peter L. Nelson

  The purpose of this book is to make the case for privatization of all bodies of water, without exception. In the tragic example of the Soviet Union, the 97% of the land owned by the state accounted for 75% of the crops.