Sign-In
Cart
Liberty Against Power
Paperback
Publisher Price: $22.95
ISBN13: 9781952223020
Publisher: Cato Institute
Published: Apr 28 2026
Pages: 358
Weight: 1.05
Height: 0.80 Width: 6.00 Depth: 9.00
Language: English
One of the most influential figures in the libertarian movement of the 1970s and 1980s is someone you may not have heard of, Roy A. Childs Jr., who tragically died in 1992 at the age of 43. During his short life, Childs, a brilliant autodidact, wrote and lectured extensively on individual liberty and free markets, and the dangers of state power and foreign intervention. He served as editor of Libertarian Review from 1977 to 1981, perhaps the high point of his career, and was a wildly popular public speaker. At the 1979 Libertarian Party convention he delivered the keynote address to repeated standing ovations. Childs boomed, We mean to change the course of history. . . . We will not bend before the power of the state! Childs's warm personality and enthusiasm were infectious, and he served as a mentor to many future luminaries in the libertarian movement.
This new edition of Liberty Against Power presents some of the best of Childs's essays, letters, and criticism written between 1967 and 1989, as well as a lengthy interview conducted shortly before his death. In fluid prose, they explain the libertarian approach to some of the major issues of the last half of the 20th century, including Vietnam and conscription, corporate statism, objectivism, anarchism, education, property rights, civil rights, the drug war, the principle of non-aggression, price controls, protectionism, and economic nationalism. Childs's prophetic essay, Politics: The New Authoritarians, written in 1982, uncannily explains the rise of populism and support for a powerful executive among the American Right today. The closing essay is a heartfelt tribute to the Russian immigrant Ayn Rand and her incalculable influence on the libertarian movement; we must combine the best in us, wrote Childs, for we really do have a world to win, you know.
In the brief 27 years of his career, Childs either participated in events held by or wrote for the Cato Institute (where he worked from 1982 to 1984), the Libertarian Scholars Conference, the Libertarian Party, the Society for Individual Liberty, Rampart College, Libertarian Review, Reason, The Individualist, and Laissez Faire Books (where he worked from 1984 to his death). Childs knew and often collaborated with libertarian scholars such as Ludwig von Mises, F. A. Hayek, Murray Rothbard, Robert Nozick, Thomas Szasz, Nathaniel and Barbara Branden, Leonard Read, David Boaz, and Joan Kennedy Taylor. Liberty Against Power ensures Childs' intellectual legacy and is indispensable for students and academics learning about libertarianism and its growing appeal.
Also in
Social Movements
Urban Revolutions: Urbanisation and (Neo-)Colonialism in Transatlantic Context
Kipfer, Stefan
Paperback
In Search of the Black Fantastic: Politics and Popular Culture in the Post-Civil Rights Era
Iton, Richard
Paperback
By the Light of Burning Dreams: The Triumphs and Tragedies of the Second American Revolution
Talbot, Margaret
Talbot, David
Hardcover
Revolution and Its Alternatives: Other Marxisms, Other Empowerments, Other Priorities
Brass, Tom
Paperback
Turning the Tide: U.S. Intervention in Central America and the Struggle for Peace
Chomsky, Noam
Paperback
With Liberty and Justice for Some: How the Law Is Used to Destroy Equality and Protect the Powerful
Greenwald, Glenn
Hardcover
Doing History from the Bottom Up: On E.P. Thompson, Howard Zinn, and Rebuilding the Labor Movement from Below
Lynd, Staughton
Paperback
Towards Collective Liberation: Anti-Racist Organizing, Feminist Praxis, and Movement Building Strategy
Crass, Chris
Paperback
They Stole a City: Wilmington's White Supremacist Coup and the Families Who Live with Its Legacy
Collins, Lauren
Hardcover
Let This Radicalize You: Organizing and the Revolution of Reciprocal Care
Hayes, Kelly
Kaba, Mariame
Paperback
Freedom Is a Constant Struggle: Ferguson, Palestine, and the Foundations of a Movement
Davis, Angela Y.
Paperback
How Bright the Path Grows: The Untold Story of the Women Who Made the March on Washington
Chatelain, Marcia
Hardcover
Mailman: My Wild Ride Delivering the Mail in Appalachia and Finally Finding Home
Grant, Stephen Starring
Paperback
Socialism: The Real History from Plato to the Present: How the Deep State Capitalizes on Crises to Consolidate Control [With Paperback Book]
Federer, William J.
Paperback
Exceptional Hatred: Antisemitism and the Fight Over Free Speech in Modern America
Loeffler, James
Hardcover
The Humanity Archive: Recovering the Soul of Black History from a Whitewashed American Myth
Fowler, Jermaine
Paperback
In Sickness and in Health: Love Stories from the Front Lines of America's Caregiving Crisis
Mauldin, Laura
Hardcover
Killed to Order: China's Organ Harvesting Industry and the True Nature of America's Biggest Adversary
Jekielek, Jan
Hardcover
Korean Messiah: Kim Il Sung and the Christian Roots of North Korea's Personality Cult
Cheng, Jonathan
Hardcover
The Death of Trotsky: The True Story of the Plot to Kill Stalin's Greatest Enemy
Ireland, Josh
Hardcover
The Pursuit of Liberty: How Hamilton vs. Jefferson Ignited the Lasting Battle Over Power in America
Rosen, Jeffrey
Hardcover
Handbook for the Revolution: Building a More Perfect Union for the Twenty-First Century
Palmer, Derrick
Hardcover
Mailman: My Wild Ride Delivering the Mail in Appalachia and Finally Finding Home
Grant, Stephen Starring
Hardcover
I Won't Pretend These Missiles Are Stars: Life in Iran During the 12-Day War
Collective, The Cartoonist
Paperback
Strange People on the Hill: How Extremism Tore Apart a Small American Town
Hayden, Michael Edison
Hardcover
Searching for Jane Crow: Black Women and Mass Incarceration in America from the Auction Block to the Cell Block
Leflouria, Talitha L.
Hardcover
Why Women Have Better Sex Under Socialism: And Other Arguments for Economic Independence
Ghodsee, Kristen R.
Paperback
This Nonviolent Stuff'll Get You Killed: How Guns Made the Civil Rights Movement Possible
Cobb, Charles E., Jr.
Paperback
A Flower Traveled in My Blood: The Incredible True Story of the Grandmothers Who Fought to Find a Stolen Generation of Children
Gilliland, Haley Cohen
Paperback
Irresistible Revolution: Marxism's Goal of Conquest & the Unmaking of the American Military
Lohmeier, Matthew
Hardcover
Blueprint for Revolution: How to Use Rice Pudding, Lego Men, and Other Nonviolent Techniques to Galvanize Communities, Overthrow Dictators, or Simply
Popovic, Srdja
Miller, Matthew
Paperback
We've Been Here Before: How Rebellion and Activism Have Always Sustained America
Dodson, Angela P.
Days, Michael I.
Hardcover
College Girl, Missing: The True Story of How a Young Woman Disappeared in Plain Sight
Cohen, Shawn
Paperback
How We Get Free (Updated 2nd Edition): Black Feminism and the Combahee River Collective
Taylor, Keeanga-Yamahtta
Paperback
The Radical Fund: How a Band of Visionaries and a Million Dollars Upended America
Witt, John Fabian
Hardcover
America in 25 Revolutions: The Story of Our Imperfect Nation's 250-Year Quest to Become a More Perfect Union
Graff, Garrett M.
Hardcover
We Are Heirs of the World's Revolutions: Speeches from the Burkina Faso Revolution 1983-87
Sankara, Thomas
Paperback
Moon U.S. Civil Rights Trail: A Traveler's Guide to the People, Places, and Events That Made the Movement
Douglas, Deborah D.
Moon Travel Guides
Paperback
Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting by in America (20th Anniversary Edition)
Ehrenreich, Barbara
Paperback
Black Marxism, Revised and Updated Third Edition: The Making of the Black Radical Tradition
Robinson, Cedric J.
Paperback
Imperialism, The Highest Stage of Capitalism - A Popular Outline: Unabridged with original tables and footnotes (Aziloth Books)
Lenin, Vladimir Ilyich
Paperback
The Myth of Red Texas: Cowboys, Populism, and Class War in the Radical South
Griscom, David
Paperback
Against the State: Anarchists and Comrades at War in Spain, Myanmar, and Rojava
Stout, James
Paperback
Shattered Dreams, Infinite Hope: A Tragic Vision of the Civil Rights Movement
Terry, Brandon M.
Hardcover
Trade Up: Why the Future Belongs to Skilled Trades and How Career Education is Transforming the Workforce
Altmire, Jason
Burr, Riley
Paperback
As We Have Always Done: Indigenous Freedom Through Radical Resistance
Simpson, Leanne Betasamosake
Paperback
A Vindication of the Rights of Woman: With Strictures on Political and Moral Subjects
Wollstonecraft, Mary
Paperback
Recoding America: Why Government Is Failing in the Digital Age and How We Can Do Better
Pahlka, Jennifer
Paperback
The Revolution Will Not Be Funded: Beyond the Non-Profit Industrial Complex
Incite!, Incite! Women of Color Against
Paperback
Days of Rage: America's Radical Underground, the Fbi, and the Forgotten Age of Revolutionary Violence
Burrough, Bryan
Paperback
Be a Revolution: How Everyday People Are Fighting Oppression and Changing the World--And How You Can, Too
Oluo, Ijeoma
Paperback
The Naked Communist: Exposing Communism and Restoring Freedom
Skousen, Paul B.
Skousen, W. Cleon
Paperback
Joyful Militancy: Building Thriving Resistance in Toxic Times
Montgomery, Nick
Bergman, Carla
Paperback
Working: People Talk about What They Do All Day and How They Feel about What They Do
Terkel, Studs
Paperback
White Evangelical Racism, Second Edition: The Politics of Morality in America
Butler, Anthea
Paperback