STIGMERGY: The C4SS Blog
New Ebook: Roy Childs’s Anarchism and Justice

Exciting news from the Cato Institute: It has just issued its first ebook: Anarchism and Justice by Roy A. Childs Jr., a collection of writings by the great libertarian author and editor. Childs (1949-1992) was the long-time editor of Libertarian Review and the Lassez Faire Books catalog. He persuaded many young libertarians of market anarchism in the 1970s (me included) with his open letter to Ayn Rand, included in the volume. Also included is Roy’s refutation of Robert Nozick’s “invisible hand” theory of the emergence of the minimal state. George H. Smith contributed an introduction.

“We must start out as anarchists,” Roy writes, “and have the advocates of the state make out their case.”

Here is the table of contents:

  • Anarchism and Justice
  • Objectivism and the State: An Open Letter to Ayn Rand
  • The Epistemological Basis of Anarchism: An Open Letter to Objectivists and Libertarians
  • The Invisible Hand Strikes Back
  • Anarchist Illusions
Anarchy and Democracy
Fighting Fascism
Markets Not Capitalism
The Anatomy of Escape
Organization Theory