Synopses & Reviews
Here is social and intellectual criticism at its best.
— Jacques Barzun
This collection is the first chosen from Albert Jay Nock's entire work and the first new collection in nearly thirty-five years. It includes his best-known essays, some outstanding but neglected articles, and previously unpublished material.
Synopsis
This collection is the first chosen from Albert Jay Nock's entire work and the first new collection in nearly thirty-five years. It includes his best-known essays, some outstanding but neglected articles, and previously unpublished material.
Table of Contents
Foreword xi
Selected Bibliography xxv
Acknowledgments xxix I. A BIOGRAPHY OF IDEAS
1. The Purpose of Biography 5
2. The Value to the Clergyman of Training in the Classics 16
3. Autobiographical Sketch 23
4. Anarchist's Progress 34
5. The Path to the River 52 II. THE CASUALTIES OF WAR
6. Peace the Aristocrat 67
7. The End and the Means 76
8. An Exhausted Virtue 81
9. Anglo-American Relations 85
10. Pointing a Moral 89 III. THE SOCIAL CRITIC
11. A Cultural Forecast 95
12. Criticism's Proper Field 107
13. Artemus Ward 109
14. Study in Paradoxes 121
15. Isaiah's Job 124 IV. THE HUMANE LIFE
16. What We All Stand For 139
17. Prohibition and Civilization 149
18. Our Pastors and Masters 154
19. The Decline of Conversation 158
20. One's Own Smoke 169
21. American Education 173
22. Snoring as a Fine Art 188
23. Pantagruelism 200 V. THE CULT OF POLITICS
24. In the Vein of Intimacy 215
25. The Leadership of Ideas 219
26. The State 222
27. Officialism and Lawlessness 230
28. The Return of the Patriots 244
29. "A Little Conserva-tive" 256
30. The Criminality of the State 269
31. Liberalism, Properly So Called 276 VI. MISCELLANY
32. Culture and Freedom 287
33. Miscellany 291
34. The Oxometer 295
35. Sinclair Lewis 297
36. Thoughts from Abroad 301 VII. CULTIVATING A SINGLE GARDEN
37. On Doing the Right Thing 317 Index 327