The following texts have been selected for being among the most important and influential books in the development of the idea of individual liberty, limited government, and the free market. Each author is represented by only one title in order to have as broad a range of authors as possible. Clicking on the author’s name will take you to that author’s bio page where additional works by that author are listed.
| authors and editors ↑ |
title |
pub. date |
| author: John Emerich Edward Dalberg, Lord Acton, editor: John Neville Figgis, editor: Reginald Vere Laurence |
The History of Freedom and Other Essays |
1907 |
| author: Frédéric Bastiat, editor: George B. de Huszar, translator: W. Hayden Boyers, introduction: Dean Russell |
Economic Harmonies (Boyers trans.) |
1850 |
| author: Edmund Burke, foreword: Francis Canavan |
Select Works of Edmund Burke, vol. 2 (Reflections on the Revolution in France) |
1790 |
| author: Eugen von Böhm-Bawerk, translator: William A. Smart |
Capital and Interest: A Critical History of Economic Theory |
1884 |
| author: John C. Calhoun, editor: Ross M. Lence |
Union and Liberty: The Political Philosophy of John C. Calhoun |
1811 |
| introduction: George W. Carey, introduction: James McClellan, author: James Madison, author: John Jay, author: Alexander Hamilton |
The Federalist (Gideon ed.) |
1818 |
| author: Marcus Tullius Cicero, translator: Francis Barham |
The Political Works of Marcus Tullius Cicero, vol. 1 (Treatise on the Commonwealth) |
54 BC |
| author: Richard Cobden, editor: John Bright, editor: James E. Thorold Rogers, introduction: Goldwin Smith |
Speeches on Questions of Public Policy. Vol. 2 (War, Peace, and Reform) |
1870 |
| author: Sir Edward Coke, editor: Steve Shepherd |
Selected Writings of Sir Edward Coke, vol. II |
1606 |
| author: Adam Ferguson |
An Essay on the History of Civil Society |
1767 |
| author: William Godwin |
An Enquiry Concerning Political Justice, Vol. I. |
1793 |
| author: William Godwin |
An Enquiry Concerning Political Justice, Vol. II. |
1793 |
| author: Hugo Grotius, editor: Richard Tuck, editor: Jean Barbeyrac |
The Rights of War and Peace (2005 ed.) 3 vols. |
1625 |
| author: Hugo Grotius, editor: Richard Tuck, editor: Jean Barbeyrac |
The Rights of War and Peace (2005 ed.) vol. 1 (Book I) |
1625 |
| author: Hugo Grotius, editor: Richard Tuck, editor: Jean Barbeyrac |
The Rights of War and Peace (2005 ed.) vol. 3 (Book III) |
1625 |
| author: Thomas Hodgskin |
The Natural and Artificial Right of Property Contrasted |
1832 |
| author: Wilhelm von Humboldt, translator: Joseph Coulthard |
The Sphere and Duties of Government (The Limits of State Action) (1854 ed.) |
1792 |
| author: David Hume, editor: Eugene F. Miller |
Essays Moral, Political, Literary (LF ed.) |
1777 |
| author: Anthony de Jasay |
The State |
1985 |
| author: Thomas Jefferson, editor: Paul Leicester Ford |
The Works of Thomas Jefferson, vol. 2 (Correspondence 1771-1779, Summary View, Declaration of Independence) |
1905 |
| author: Immanuel Kant, translator: William Hastie |
Kant’s Principles of Politics, including his essay on Perpetual Peace. A Contribution to Political Science |
1784 |
| author: John Locke, editor: Thomas Hollis |
The Two Treatises of Civil Government (Hollis ed.) |
1689 |
| author: John Stuart Mill |
On Liberty and The Subjection of Women (1879 ed.) |
1859 |
| author: John Milton, editor: Sir Richard C. Jebb |
Areopagitica (Jebb ed.) |
1664 |
| author: Misc (Magna Carta), introduction: William Sharp McKechnie |
Magna Carta: A Commentary on the Great Charter of King John, with an Historical Introduction |
1215 |
| author: Ludwig von Mises, foreword: Friedrich August von Hayek, translator: J. Kahane |
Socialism: An Economic and Sociological Analysis |
1922 |
| author: Gustave de Molinari, translator: P. H. Lee Warner, editor: Frédéric Passy, editor: Hodgson Pratt |
The Society of Tomorrow: A Forecast of its Political and Economic Organization |
1899 |
| author: Charles Louis de Secondat, Baron de Montesquieu |
Complete Works of Montesquieu, 4 vols. |
1777 |
| author: Charles Louis de Secondat, Baron de Montesquieu |
Complete Works, vol. 1 (The Spirit of Laws) |
1748 |
| author: Thomas Paine, editor: Moncure Daniel Conway |
The Writings of Thomas Paine, Vol. II (1779-1792) |
1779 |
| author: David Ricardo, editor: Piero Sraffa, editor: Maurice Herbert Dobb |
The Works and Correspondence of David Ricardo, Vol. 1 Principles of Political Economy and Taxation |
1817 |
| author: Jean Baptiste Say, translator: Charles Robert Prinsep, editor: Clement C. Biddle |
A Treatise on Political Economy |
1803 |
| author: Algernon Sidney, editor: Thomas G. West |
Discourses Concerning Government (LF ed.) |
1698 |
| author: Adam Smith, editor: Roy Harold Campbell, editor: Andrew S. Skinner |
Glasgow Edition of the Works and Correspondence Vol. 2a An Inquiry Into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, Vol. 1 |
1776 |
| author: Adam Smith, editor: Andrew S. Skinner, editor: Roy Harold Campbell |
Glasgow Edition of the Works and Correspondence Vol. 2b An Inquiry Into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, Vol. 2 |
1776 |
| author: Herbert Spencer |
Social Statics |
1851 |
| author: John Trenchard, author: Thomas Gordon |
Cato’s Letters, 4 vols. in 2 (LF ed.) |
1724 |
| author: Voltaire, introduction: Oliver Herbrand Gordon Leigh, notes: Tobias Smollett, translator: William F. Fleming |
The Works of Voltaire, Vol. I (Candide) |
1759 |
| author: Mary Wollstonecraft |
A Vindication of the Rights of Woman with Strictures on Political and Moral Subjects |
1792 |
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