Archive for Book Reviews
Leo Tolstoy Against the State
Posted by: | CommentsThis past May, I posted a shorter essay about Leo Tolstoy and non-resistance. I wrote a longer paper on the topic (using the previous essay as its basis) and now wish to share it with you in full. Tomorrow I’ll post an excerpt from Tolstoy’s book The Kingdom of God is Within You that I find particularly compelling. It may be difficult for us to hear the challenge of Tolstoy to today’s world of violence, but even if we do not take a pure pacifist stance it is a message worth taking to heart. May we never think that a few more people dying will make our living better, may we never believe violence is the answer to the world’s problems.
Russian writer Leo Tolstoy is considered one of the greatest novelists of all time. War and Peace and Anna Karenina have inspired millions over the last century. Less well-known about Tolstoy, though, is that his interpretation of Christian ethics has had a profound effect upon the world, especially regarding non-resistance and pacifism. In this paper, I will examine the development of these themes in Tolstoy’s philosophy as they appear in The Kingdom of God is Within You.
Leo Tolstoy was born in 1838 into an aristocratic family. He was the son of Count Nicholas Ilich Tolstoy and Princess Marya Nikolayevna Volkonsky, whose marriage was one of negotiation and convenience. Social class meant everything in eighteenth-century Russia, and the Tolstoys were part of the upper echelon of power. Leo’s ancestry included generals, diplomats, and ministers of the Tsarist rulers. Thus, Tolstoy enjoyed the privileges of the high class, such as the ability to attend university. As a young man, he lived a profligate and wild life while attending the University of Kazan, struggling to find a purpose in his life. He decided to join the military and went to war. Seeing the grim reality of war motivated him to write, and he achieved some early success in his publications while on the front. He finally married at age 34 and settled down to begin the major portion of his literary career. He also began to re-explore religion and came to a realization about God, the church, the state, and self. It was during this time that he reflected upon the writings of anarchists such as Pierre-Joseph Proudhon, and saw that non-resistance was the only means of lasting change to be found.
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Tags: Book Reviews, Gandhi, government, leo tolstoy, Martin Luther King, non-resistance, pacifism, recommended books, The State, theology, violence, war
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Panderer to Power: The True Story of Alan Greenspan
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Book Review of Panderer to Power, by Frederick Sheehan. McGraw-Hill: New York, 2010. Retail: $29.95
For the bulk of my life so far, I have lived in the age of Alan Greenspan, the chairman of the Federal Reserve Bank from 1987 to 2006. Mentioning a Federal Reserve chair like this in the past would not have been considered normal, yet Mr. Greenspan has a sort of legendary status associated with him. Well, at least some people consider him to be an iconic figure, but more and more the general public is coming to realize the destructive effect he has had on the world economy. Books like Frederick Sheehan’s Panderer to Power have something to do with the dispelling of the myth.
Sheehan’s book is the first critical, post-crash biography of Greenspan. Using Greenspan’s own words, Sheehan tracks Greenspan’s education as a young man, early professional life, his meteoric rise to stardom as a celebrity figure, and his tenure as Federal Reserve chair. The questions primarily raised are: What kind of man is this who has so much power over the world, and what did he do that has led us to today’s economic crisis? The answers are quite surprising. Here are some of the things I learned about Greenspan.
- Greenspan was supposedly a disciple of Ayn Rand, yet he probably did not understand what Rand generally was talking about. Nathaniel Branden wrote later, “I wondered to what extent he was aware of Rand’s opinions.” Apparently, he would even argue the question of his own existence with the objectivist coterie. Rand herself wondered, “Do you think Alan might basically be a social climber?”
- Even in his pre-Fed years, Greenspan was actually a rather mediocre economist and forecaster. Time after time he would make highly-publicized predictions and yet the exact opposite would occur (see pages 43, 54, and chapter 7).
- Greenspan was a master self-marketer, which is probably the reason for his rise to stardom. He constantly engaged the media and the New York financier social scene, hence he had everyone’s ear without the wisdom to back it up. How else can you be both a professional economist and yet date Barbara Walters?
- Even though Greenspan has supposedly had a historically apolitical career, he was a master politician (read: liar). One only need look to his involvement during the Nixon and Carter presidencies to realize that he knew how to play the political game brilliantly.
- Greenspan’s policies during his Fed years were incredibly political as well. He frequently timed his actions in accordance with what was politically expedient. Wall Street and the fat cat Congress could count on the legendary “Greenspan Put” to be their savior when things were looking down.
- Post-crash, Greenspan has tried to play his own game of historical revisionism about his policies that led to the economic crisis. Sheehan exposes these and many other lies.
- Greenspan has been hired as a consultant by many of the firms who profited from the economic crisis via government handouts. Go figure, the man who enriches Wall Street and causes the meltdown gets the extra paycheck…
Clearly, there is much yet to learn about the man whom many called “the second-most powerful man in the world” for nearly twenty years.
In summary, Sheehan’s retrospective on Greenspan is a fascinating read, and I anticipate it will become a valued resource for those looking to understand the Greenspan years from a perspective that offers more than tacit approval of inflationism and government intervention in the economy. Keep in mind, though, it is not an easy read. Economics is discussed at a fairly high, but understandable level. You will probably end up like me, referring to Wikipedia and other sources to recall certain investment and econ topics. Nevertheless, Panderer to Power is worth your time if you desire more knowledge about the Greenspan legacy.
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Visit Frederick Sheehan’s website.
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Tags: Bernanke, biography, Book Reviews, economics, Federal Reserve, Greenspan, money, recommended books
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Top 10 Books for Christian Libertarians – 2009 Edition
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One of the most popular and commented on posts of this past year was my Top 10 Books for Christmas last December. I’m thinking it’s about time for another list, since the Christmas season is upon us and I bet you’re wondering what to get that liberty-loving friend, brother, or spouse. Now, although the title of this post says “Christian Libertarians,” plenty of these books are applicable to libertarians everywhere. Anybody can find something on here to enjoy and learn from. Check out some of these great books and see what you think…
End the Fed, by Ron Paul – The Federal Reserve banking system is corrupt and has devastated the world economy, and Ron Paul demonstrates in this great book just how bad it really is. A must-read for our current political situation!
Meltdown, by Thomas Woods – Here’s another essential book for you to know well. Tom has not only written a great expose of how the government has crippled the economy but also a great treatise in basic economics. This book even hit the NYT Bestseller list for multiple weeks!
The Libertarian Theology of Freedom, by Edmund Opitz – Most LCC readers are already familiar with Opitz since I have been in the process of archiving his essays online, but I want to point out that this book is back in stock again at Amazon (but probably not for long). Read my review of this book for more information. But for that matter, any book by Ed Opitz is well worth having on your bookshelf.
Christianity and War, by Laurence Vance – I’m going to keep pushing this book until every Christian I know is reading it. Laurence’s work is incredible and absolutely essential for getting the church at large to realize war is NOT the answer. (Don’t forget that you can get the audiobook exclusively from LCC!)
Amusing Ourselves to Death, by Neil Postman – Does American “culture” sometimes make you wonder what on earth happened here? Neil Postman clarifies the problems we face on a regular basis in this classic book. Check out my book review here at LCC.
The Ethics of Money Production, by Guido Hulsmann – Guido is definitely one of my favorite scholars in the Austrian School, and this book is just one more reason why. His thesis is simple: money creation must occur on the free market, neither inhibited nor controlled by government, in order to be created in an ethical manner. Pretty great topic, eh? (By the way, you can get this book at Amazon, but it’s cheaper via the Mises Institute online store.)
The Cult of the Presidency, by Gene Healy – I met Gene for the first time this past October at the Students for Liberty Texas Conference, and am now an even greater admirer of his intellect and tenacity to hit the establishment hard. This book shows just how ridiculous statolatry has become, especially in the last eight years with Bush. Now, I think he could write a second book just about Obama. (Also, the paperback version runs a couple bucks cheaper if it matters to you.)
Faith and Liberty, by Alejandro Chafuen – I was really excited to find this book, which covers the history of the Late Scholastic thinkers and their writings on private property, trade, money, and the State – which were all written from theological perspective.
![[cover thumbnail]](http://static.lulu.com/items/volume_66/3160000/3160866/13/preview/320_3160866.jpg?3160866-1247697898)
The Way, the Truth, and the Sword, by Scott Ritsema – You can get Scott’s great book either as an eBook or through Lulu.com. Either way, you’re in for a treat, as Scott has written a wonderful little book encouraging the church at large to reject the State and get back to the true savior, Jesus Christ. Scott is the webmaster at Civics News.
An Amazon Kindle filled with the Mises library and Christian Classics – This may be #10, but it’s probably #1 in my list. You know, almost every book the Mises Institute publishes (and much more) is available to download for free as a PDF on their website. You could easily fill a flash drive with liberty PDF’s from the Mises Library and tons of classic theological texts from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library and Project Gutenberg. Now THAT would be a gift long remembered! (Hey Mom, hint hint?)
And remember, if you follow one of these links, LCC gets a small referral cut from every purchase you make at no cost to you. So, get some great books AND support LibertarianChristians.com while doing your Christmas shopping. It’s much appreciated…
Finally, if you think a great book deserves to be on this list, comment below and make your voice heard!
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Tags: Book Reviews, culture, government, history, money, philosophy, recommended books, statolatry, theology
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How to Be Evangelical without Being Conservative
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I was first introduced to Roger Olson through his book Who Needs Theology?, which I read for one of my theology classes a few years ago (and I highly recommend the book). Perhaps someday I’ll post my book review of this work. However, I was made aware of Olson’s latest project, How to Be Evangelical without Being Conservative, and immediately my interest was piqued.
Normally, after procuring and reading this book, I would then attempt to write a book review summarizing the significant content. In this case, Laurence Vance has done us all a favor by preempting my review in his latest article on LewRockwell.com.
On some level, Vance confirmed my suspicion about the book – that Olson would be decent in his politics but completely ignorant of economics. The trend of theologians conflating lack of explicit commands in the Bible to practice capitalism with “social justice” political programs is very unfortunate, but comes back to a lack of knowledge of economic fundamentals and, in some cases, sheer bad theology. Quoting Vance:
Olson believes that government entitlement programs financed by a highly graduated income tax are “not unreasonable or unchristian policies.” In fact: “They accord well with Scripture’s overt concern for the poor and oppressed.” “Redistribution of wealth is biblical,” says Olson. Christians should not feel bad about espousing government theft of resources because “no biblical or rational conflict confronts the evangelical Christian who wants to advocate for the poor, including government-sponsored redistribution of wealth, in spite of all the fussing and fuming of some conservative evangelicals who consider such policies socialistic.”
But what about the commandment: “Thou shalt not steal” (Exodus 20:15)? Olson doesn’t apply this to the government because “the idea that taxes are a form of government theft comes from the philosophy of secular thinkers like Robert Nozick of Harvard University.”
Olson’s conclusion is inescapable: stealing is okay if the government does it. This is just like concluding that killing in an aggressive war is not murder if the government says to do it.
It appears that while my respect for Olson in the field of theology is still warranted, my esteem overall has been lowered. I will likely still try to get my hands on a copy and read this book, but the quality of Vance’s review warranted me posting the link. At the very least, Olson should be commended for not merely giving in to the predominant “conservative” attitude that often plagues evangelical Christianity.
On another note, I’m still finishing my review of Stanley Weintraub’s Silent Night. I have had some old friends over to visit for the last couple of days, so naturally it didn’t get done. I expect to post it in the next couple of days, so be on the lookout!
Finally, I saw a great quote from Dwight Eisenhower on LRC today as well, it definitely makes you think:
Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are not clothed. This world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children…. Under the cloud of threatening war, it is humanity hanging from a cross of iron.
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Tags: Book Reviews, conservatism, Evangelicalism, theology
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