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Synopsis
Written from a politically conservative position, this history looks at the rise of big government and the concomitant threat to individual freedom.
| Size | | Length: | 326 pages | | Height: | 9.8 in | | Width: | 6.0 in | | Thickness: | 0.8 in | | Weight: | 22.4 oz |
Industry Reviews
This author comes highly touted by the mainstream conservative press, and with good reason. Bovard, a journalist best known for his influential Lost Rights: The Destruction of American Liberty (St. Martin's, 1994), sets forth a passionate indictment of the state's coercive powers over the people. He is especially critical of the "Peter Pan" theory of good government and other political illusions fostered by the state. Bovard reviews 200 years of political philosophy and makes effective use of extreme examples of government programs and regulations to drive home his essential message. Although his argument is bipartisan in its critique of the state's excesses and excuses, the overall effect is one of polemical overkill. Still, this is a well-researched book that can serve as a sampling of libertarian thought for many libraries. Thomas A. Karel, Franklin & Marshall Coll. Lib., Lancaster, PA
Del Negro
Bovard (Lost Rights) throws more red meat to angry libertarians in this antigovernment jeremiad. While he provides some frightening examples of how governments mostly the U.S. federal do more harm than good, his passion leads him to some hyperbolic conclusions. There are many passages that will make readers not only welfare-state liberals but also moderate Democrats and Republicans wonder whether they live in the same country as Bovard. One of his biggest targets is the notion of state sovereignty: "The doctrine of `sovereignty' often does nothing more than provide a respectable gloss for some people's lust to control other people's behaviors, or to seize the fruits of other people's labor." That last clause is telling, for it could just as well be turned against Bovard. It is precisely to stop nongovernmental entities (e.g., factory owners) from seizing the fruit of other people's labor (e.g., factory workers) that so many of the regulations and laws Bovard decries (e.g., a minimum wage or corporate taxes) were instituted. But Bovard is well-read and makes entertaining use of Rousseau, Hegel, Hobbes (he's very fond of Leviathan) and other thinkers. He's also consistent and intellectually honest enough to follow his own ideology to its logical conclusion about, for instance, marijuana (legalize it, he says). Few readers will agree with Bovard that the dominant spirit in America today is one that idolizes the state, but most will find that he makes a rousing theoretical case against statism. (Feb.)
Stevenson
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