Five Books

(Check out this compelling 4 minute video Choose Liberty)

In July of 2010, Governor Mitch Daniels of Indiana was asked to select and discuss five books on Liberty. This interview is no longer available at the original website (“fivebooks.com”), but it is reproduced below. Governor Daniels’ discussion of these books is quite impressive – it serves as an excellent introduction to some of the most important thinkers on the subject of Liberty in the modern era.

Before we get to the interview, there are two items worth mentioning about The Road to Serfdom by Friedrich Hayek. First, I especially recommend this out-of-print edition if you can find a copy at the library or in the used book market.

This edition includes an intro by Milton Friedman as well as prefaces to the three earlier editions (1944, 1956, 1976). All of these prefaces are well worth reading. Second, if you are in a hurry, here is a link to the Reader’s Digest Condensed Edition of Hayek’s classic. This condensed version was given high marks by someone whose opinion I respect.

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The “Five Books”:

• The Road to Serfdom by F.A. Hayek
• Free to Choose by Milton Friedman
• What It Means to Be a Libertarian by Charles Murray
• The Rise and Decline of Nations by Mancur Olson
• The Future and Its Enemies by Virginia Postrel