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Reception

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{{short description|1973 book by Murray Rothbard}}
{{Infobox book | 
| name = For a New Liberty: The Libertarian Manifesto
| image = File:For a New Liberty (first edition).jpg
| caption = Cover of the first edition
| author = [[Murray Rothbard]]
| country = United States
| language = English
| subject = [[Libertarianism]]
| publisher = [[Macmillan Publishers]]
| pub_date = 1973
| media_type = Print ([[Hardcover]] & [[Paperback]])
| pages = 327 (first edition)<br>338 (second edition)
| isbn = 0-02-074690-3 |isbn_note= (second edition)<br>0-945466-47-1 (2006 edition)
| oclc= 75961482
}}

'''''For a New Liberty: The Libertarian Manifesto''''' (1973; second edition 1978; third edition 1985) is a book by American economist and historian [[Murray Rothbard]], in which the author promotes [[anarcho-capitalism]]. The work has been credited as an influence on modern [[libertarian]] thought and on part of the [[New Right]].

==Summary==
Rothbard advocates anarcho-capitalism, a strain of stateless [[libertarianism]]. Rothbard traces the intellectual origins of libertarianism back to [[classical liberalism|classical liberal]] philosophers [[John Locke]] and [[Adam Smith]] and the [[American Revolution]]. He argues that modern libertarianism originated not as a response to [[socialism]] or [[leftism]], but to [[conservatism]]. Rothbard views the right of [[self-ownership]] and the [[right to homestead]] as establishing the complete set of principles of the libertarian system.

The core of libertarianism, writes Rothbard, is the [[non-aggression axiom]]: "that no man or group of men may aggress against the person or property of anyone else." He argues that while this principle is almost universally applied to private individuals and institutions, the [[government]] is considered above the general moral law, and therefore does not have to abide by this axiom.

Rothbard attempts to dispel the notion that libertarianism constitutes a sect or offshoot of liberalism or conservatism, or that its seemingly right-wing opinions on economic policy and left-wing opinions on social and foreign policy are contradictory.

==Reception==
The [[Objectivism|Objectivist]] author [[Peter Schwartz (writer)|Peter Schwartz]] criticized the views Rothbard expounded in ''For a New Liberty'', writing that like other libertarians, Rothbard cared about neither "the pursuit of freedom nor the exercise of reason" and supported only "the extermination of government and the inculcation of anti-state hostility." Schwartz maintained that Rothbard wrongly viewed the state as "by nature criminal."<ref>{{cite book |author=Schwartz, Peter |title=Libertarianism: The Perversion of Liberty |publisher=The Intellectual Activist |location=New York, New York |year=1986 |pages=4, 63 }}</ref> Libertarian author [[Tom G. Palmer]] commented in 1997 that ''For a New Liberty'' "provides a good overview of the libertarian worldview, although the chapters on public policy issues and on the organized libertarian movement are by now somewhat dated."<ref>{{cite book |author1=Palmer, Tom G. |author2=Boaz, David |title=The Libertarian Reader: Classic and Contemporary Writings from Lao-Tzu to Milton Friedman |publisher=The Free Press |location=New York|year=1997 |page=417 |isbn=0-684-84767-1 }}</ref> Libertarian author [[David Boaz]] writes that ''For a New Liberty'', together with [[Robert Nozick]]'s ''[[Anarchy, State, and Utopia]]'' (1974) and [[Ayn Rand]]'s essays on political philosophy, "defined the 'hard-core' version of modern libertarianism, which essentially restated [[Herbert Spencer|Spencer]]'s law of equal freedom: Individuals have the right to do whatever they want to do, so long as they respect the equal rights of others."<ref>{{cite book |author=Boaz, David |title=Libertarianism: A Primer |url=https://archive.org/details/libertarianismpr00boaz_800 |url-access=limited |publisher=The Free Press |location=New York |year=1997 |page=[https://archive.org/details/libertarianismpr00boaz_800/page/n64 57] |isbn=0-684-84768-X }}</ref> British philosopher [[Ted Honderich]] writes that Rothbard's anarcho-libertarianism informed "one messianic part of the New Right".<ref>{{cite book |author=Honderich, Ted |title=Conservatism: Burke, Nozick, Bush, Blair? |publisher=Pluto Press |location=London |year=2005 |pages=127–128 |isbn=0-7453-2129-1 }}</ref>

In ''[[Radicals for Capitalism]]'' (2007), journalist [[Brian Doherty (journalist)|Brian Doherty]] writes of ''For a New Liberty'', "This book strove to synthesize, in condensed form, the economic, historical, philosophical, and policy elements of Rothbard's vision...the book was meant as both a primer and a manifesto, so Rothbard crammed in as much of his overall theory of liberty as he could ... Rothbard hits the harder [[Anarcho-capitalism|anarcho-capitalist]] stuff, but slips it in so smoothly that many readers might not notice that this 'libertarian manifesto' promotes [[anarchism]]."<ref>{{cite book |author=Doherty, Brian |title=Radicals for Capitalism |year=2007 |pages=378–381 |publisher=PublicAffairs |isbn=978-1-58648-350-0 }}</ref>

Philosopher [[Edward Feser]] argued that the central argument at the heart of the book is largely philosophically meaningless.<ref>{{cite web |first=Edward |last=Feser |title=Rothbard as Philosopher |url=https://edwardfeser.blogspot.com/2009/08/rothbard-as-philosopher.html |date=August 2009 |work=Edward Feser's Blog |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250321133754/https://edwardfeser.blogspot.com/2009/08/rothbard-as-philosopher.html |archive-date=21 March 2025
|access-date=21 March 2025 |url-status=live}}</ref> Later, Professor [[Gerard Casey (philosopher)|Gerard Casey]] wrote a critical article about this,<ref>Casey, Gerard (2009). Feser on Rothbard as a Philosopher. Libertarian Papers, vol. 1, no. 34</ref> and they replied to each other.<ref>{{cite web |first=Edward |last=Feser |title=Rothbard Revisited |url=https://edwardfeser.blogspot.com/2009/08/rothbard-revisited.html |date=August 2009 |work=Edward Feser's Blog |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20250321135120/https://edwardfeser.blogspot.com/2009/08/rothbard-revisited.html |archive-date=21 March 2025 |access-date=21 March 2025 |url-status=live}}</ref>

==Publishing history==
In 2006 the [[Ludwig von Mises Institute]] released a new hardbound edition, with a new introduction by [[Lew Rockwell]]. There were also translations in Spanish, Italian, and Portuguese.

;English
* Collier Macmillan. 1973. Hardcover. {{ISBN|0-02-605300-4}}
* Revised edition, Collier Books, 1978. Paperback
* [[Libertarian Review Foundation]], New York, 1985, 1989 2nd Printing. {{ISBN|0-930073-02-9}}
* University Press of America. Paperback. 1986. {{ISBN|0-8191-4981-0}}
* [[Laissez Faire Books|Fox & Wilkes]]. 1989. Paperback. {{ISBN|0-930073-02-9}}
* [[Ludwig von Mises Institute]]. 2006. Hardcover. {{ISBN|0-945466-47-1}}

;Spanish
* ''Hacia una Nueva Libertad: El Manifiesto Libertario''. Grito Sagrado. 2006. Paperback. {{ISBN|987-1239-01-7}}

;Italian
* 1996 ''Per una nuova libertà''. Liberilibri, Macerata. 1996. Paperback.
* 2004 ''Per una nuova libertà''. Liberilibri, Macerata. 2004. Paperback. {{ISBN|88-85140-27-0}}

;Portuguese
* ''Por Uma Nova Liberdade O Manifesto Libertário.'' Instituto Ludwig von Mises do Brasil. 2013. Paperback. {{ISBN|978-85-8119-060-0}}

;Ukrainian
* Ротбард, Мюрей. До нової свободи. Лібертаріанський маніфест / пер. з англ. Олександр Гросман, ред. Володимир Золотарьов, К. : К. І. С., 2022. — 427 c. Paperback. {{ISBN|978-617-684-270-5}}

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
* [https://www.mises.org/rothbard/foranewlb.pdf PDF of the 2006 edition] (complete)
* [https://mises.org/library/new-liberty-libertarian-manifesto Mises Institute edition, published in 2006]
* [https://www.mises.org/media.aspx?action=category&ID=87 Online Audio book]

{{Rothbard books}}
{{Libertarianism}}

[[Category:1973 non-fiction books]]
[[Category:American non-fiction books]]
[[Category:American political books]]
[[Category:Books about capitalism]]
[[Category:Books by Murray Rothbard]]
[[Category:Books in political philosophy]]
[[Category:English-language non-fiction books]]
[[Category:Libertarianism in the United States]]
[[Category:Libertarian books]]
[[Category:Macmillan Publishers books]]
[[Category:Political manifestos]]
[[Category:Sociology books]]

For a New Liberty - Revision history

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