Libertarian \t\t Movement

Modern libertarians see themselves as the loyal opposition to the \t\t totalitarian tendencies of centralized power, in an American tradition reaching \t\t back to the anti-Federalists. Doherty's astute history shows where that \t\t consensus comes from and where it fractures along personal, political and \t\t practical lines. As a procapitalist and antistatist philosophy, libertarianism \t\t has had its greatest impact in economics. But Doherty shows that modern \t\t libertarianism since the 1940s, and increasingly since the 1980s, has been \t\t politically and ideologically influential, too. Whether believers in a small \t\t state regulating only contracts and national defense, or no state at all (like \t\t self-described "anarcho-capitalist" Murray Rothbard), libertarians have rooted \t\t themselves in a number of institutions—from schools, publications and think \t\t tanks to the Libertarian Party, the country's third-largest ticket. \t\t Reason magazine senior editor Doherty \t\t conveys an insider's understanding in clear, confident prose. However, his \t\t sympathies resist questioning the fundamental assumption uniting diverse ideas, \t\t personalities and institutions: the belief in the power of completely \t\t unfettered markets to bring about the best possible society. Though partisan \t\t and sometimes hagiographic, Doherty's well-researched history avoids polemics \t\t in outlining a vital political orientation that cuts across the political \t\t spectrum. (Feb.)