The Root of Liberty Reading List

Welcome to a library of literature discussing the philosophy of individual liberty.

The Essential Reading List menu above provides a self study program.  The webpage for each of the essential books and essays has links to text and audio files.  The webpages also provide a discussion of the fundamental concepts of each reading.  Read the essential books and essays in the order listed.

The inspiration for this website is the following article written by Dan Sanchez of the Foundation for Economic Education (FEE):

Liberty Needs a Self-Study Movement 

The article makes the following points:

Liberty is not merely a slate of policies or a “side” in a culture war. Liberty is a philosophy: a system of ideas. Ideas must be comprehended to be adopted and to make ideas comprehensible to others, we must first fully comprehend them ourselves.

As Leonard Read said: "If liberty is losing, it is because those with the potential to be liberty leaders are neglecting to “do their homework", i.e., to first put their own house of ideas in order."

For liberty to meaningfully win, we must become a movement centered around contagious self-improvement and self-study.

Before beginning the reading list above, please view the following 5 minute video titled "The Philosophy of Liberty" by Ken Schoolland.  Write your impressions of this video and keep those notes for review at a later date.