Read Online Mises: The Last Knight of Liberalism (LvMI) RTF

Here is a magisterial book for today and the ages, one that inspires awe for both the subject and the author who accomplished the seemingly impossible: a sweeping intellectual biography, constructed from original sources, of the 20th century's most astonishing dissident intellectual. It has the apparatus of a great scholarly work but the drama of a classic novel.Ludwig von Mises's colleagues in Europe called him the "last knight of liberalism" because he was the champion of an ideal of liberty they consider dead and gone in an age of central planning and socialism of all varieties. During his lifetime, they were largely correct. And thus the subtitle of this book. But Mises was not deterred in any respect: not in his scientific work, not in his writing or publishing, and not in his relentless fight against every form of statism. Born in 1881, he taught in Europe and the Americas during his century, and died in 1973 before the dawn of a new epoch that would validate his life and ideals in the minds of millions of people around the world. The last knight of liberalism triumphed. Jörg Guido Hülsmann, professor of economics at the University of Paris (Angers), tells the full story of his dramatic and inspiring life and contributions – and in the course of it, provides not only a reconstruction of the history of the Austrian School of economics of which Mises was the leading expositor, and not only of the entire history of economic thought on the Continent and the United States, but also of the political and intellectual history of the 20th century. Virtually everything in this book is new, a result of ten years of combing archives in five countries but of an unprecedented access to the voluminous Mises's papers and to those of Mises's colleagues, written by an author who himself is a master of the discipline and all the languages involved (German, English, and French). And though the book is huge (1,200 pages) it reads like a great novel, with a fast pace and high drama. Even for those who believe they know something of Mises's life, it is a story told here for the first time. We learn of Mises's background from a newly ennobled Jewish family, his comprehensive early education, his war experiences and how he was nearly sent to his death, his revolutionary monetary treatise, his struggles as a young academic, his turn against socialism, his fights with colleagues, his love for ideas, his stand against national socialism, his flight from Vienna and Geneva, his life in the United States, and his legacy. "This a magnificent work of scholarship," writes historian Ralph Raico, "not only definitive on Mises's life and works, but also brilliantly delineating the Vienna of the time, the development of the Austrian school, the place of other thinkers like Hayek, and Mises's contributions to American and world libertarianism.""A true masterpiece!" – Bettina Bien Greaves"This masterpiece on the life of Mises is a great achievement! Its contents and scope surpass all economic biographies." – Jesus Huerta de Soto"The first 300 pages of this big book were so fascinating that I promptly read the remaining 800 or so. I am delighted with the work." – Leland B. Yeager"Jorg Guido Hulsmann's tribute to Ludwig von Mises is a broadly and deeply researched scholarly accomplishment. Written with effortlessly readable prose, this biography will be of enduring interest to intelligent laymen unfamiliar with Mises's writings as well as to academicians and others already familiar with the life and legacy of this intellectual giant." – Edward Younkins, The New IndividualistTo search for Mises Institute titles, enter a keyword and "LvMI" (short for Ludwig von Mises Institute); e.g., "Depression LvMI"