An Austrian Perspective on the History of Economic Thought

By: Murray N. Rothbard

Narrated by: Jeff Riggenbach

Length: 55 hrs and 29 mins

Publisher's summary

The appearance of the famous (and massive) volumes of Rothbard's Austrian Perspective on the History of Economic Thought in a new edition is cause for great celebration. They have been out of print for many years. They are at last accessible again, in a single book edition.

These are indeed the books that Mises himself longed to see. "A real history of economic thought," he said in 1955, "would have to point out the development of the doctrines and not merely list every book."

When these volumes first appeared, they were celebrated in Barron's and by top scholars around the world. They succeeded in changing the way people think about economic doctrine: the beginnings (not Adam Smith, but the Spanish theologians), the dead ends (Marx), the great triumphs (Bastiat, for example), and the truly great minds (Turgot and many others he rescued from near obscurity).

Rothbard read deeply in thinkers dating back hundreds and thousands of years, and spotted every promising line of thought — and every unfortunate one. He knew when an idea would lead to prosperity, and when it would lead to calamity. He could spot a proto-Keynesian or proto-Marxist idea in the Middle Ages, just as he could find free-market lines of thought in ancient manuscripts.

The numbers of insights in these volumes are countless. Every paragraph bursts with intellectual energy and the author's fiery passion to tell the listener the remarkable story of economics. Many reviewers have remarked that Rothbard's accomplishment seems superhuman. He seems to have read everything. His originality is overwhelming. His passion for liberty and integrity in science is evident. His disdain toward those who sell out to the state is manifest as well.

This set is a monument to Rothbard's genius, a resource that will be valuable to intellectuals for generations, and a great read too!

©1995, 2006 Ludwig von Mises Institute (P)2021 Ludwig von Mises Institute

The most important history of economics for your education.

Rothbard’s two volumes will be the most important histor of economics text for your education, spanning the era from Ancient Greece till the end of the 19th century. A truly and thoroughly rigorous and meticulous book by one of the greatest economists who ever lived. I can compare it only with Anthony Kenny’s or Bertrand Russell’s Histories of Western Philosophy.

Comprehensive coherent history of political-economic thought

This is a meticulous, comprehensive analysis of the development of human political-economic systems that is understandable to non-economists.
Enlightening and worth the length of the book.

Rothbard nailed it. Excellent.

"How can 'Story' deserve 5 stars in this boring-looking book," you ask? This book contains a legendary history of communist apocalyptic terrors in Chapter 5 of the first volume. It was thrilling and chilling and it grips the imagination. If there is any part of this 50+ hour book to listen to, it would have to be that chapter. You won't be disappointed.

I also have praise for the rest of the book, of course-- I just wanted to share the best part first for those who may not want to go the whole marathon to find the juicy bits.

The economics before Adam Snith was fascinating. Turns out that economics as we know it in its most accurate and developed form today was also developed before Adam Smith, and Adam Smith's "The Wealth of Nations" usurped the glory of economics undeservingly, causing the memory of all former economists to be eclipsed and forgotten, to the great detriment of economics, since Smith introduced many fatal errors to economics.
When I first was interested in reading this book a year ago, I saw that Rothbard was critical of Adam Smith, and I hadn't read Adam Smith, so I thought that perhaps there was some Austrian School animus on Murray Rothbard's part against Adam Smith, (or maybe he was justified, and I wouldn't know unless I had read Adam Smith). So I spent a year reading Adam Smith's works a couple times (I didn't have much free time), and I became familiar with Adam Smith, took plenty of notes, and I really liked him.
So then I read this book here by Murray Rothbard that I had wanted to read, and I got to the parts in this book where Murray Rothbard is critical of Adam Smith, and I realized that Rothbard was thoroughly familiar with Adam Smith and his criticisms were all on-point things that I kind of noticed while I was reading Adam Smith, but had kind of shrugged off. Rothbard is right.
Rothbard also goes into detail on the history of Karl Marx's communism, which was also excellent. One realizes as these chapters on Marx progress that Marx was not interested in truth, but in his communist agenda instead. Marx would snatch any economic fallacy that could prop up communism that he could get his hands on, even though his fallacious arguments contradicted one another in various places.
Frédéric Bastiat was great. I'm glad Rothbard included so much about him and his accomplishments, his intellectual roots and descendents.

Can you tell I liked this book? I recommend the whole thing if it's your cup of tea.

For all economists.

This is a technical work going into the vast history of potential philosophical knowledge that has altered modern economics (up until the marginality revolution)

I highly recommend for all economists and historians alike to listen to this!