A cogent analysis of a misunderstood political philosophy.
Libertarianism and the common good.
Law professor Koppelman, identifying himself as a “pro-capitalism leftist,” offers a thorough examination of libertarianism and a vigorous critique of thinkers who have corrupted it into “an infantile fantasy of godlike self-sufficiency.” As the author notes, “investigating philosophical debates in the law is what I do. I soon found that libertarianism comes in flavors, some more bitter than others.” Koppelman defines libertarianism as “a mutated form of liberalism,” which “holds the purpose of government to be guaranteeing to individuals the freedom to live as they like.” Founded by Nobel laureate economist Friedrich Hayek, libertarianism proposed that unregulated markets “promise a better life for everyone.” Hayek believed that “if you want more for the poor, you shouldn’t try to equalize. You should make the economy grow, and that means letting the rich keep quite a lot of what they have.” However, as interpreted by economist Murray Rothbard, philosopher Robert Nozick, and novelist Ayn Rand (“a hot ball of rage”), libertarianism has become a justification for “crass predation.” Of the three, Koppelman sees Rothbard—who has influenced “America’s most powerful libertarian, Charles Koch”—as the most noxious. “Nozick and Rand are minimal-state libertarians,” writes the author.” They want the state to prevent force and fraud but do nothing else. Rothbard is an anarcho-capitalist. He wants to do away with the state altogether.” Koppelman makes a persuasive case for the need for state regulation and protection in areas such as workplace safety, consumer protection, drug laws, anti-discrimination laws, and financial protection. “Rejecting paternalistic regulation, because you hate the idea that your competence is limited,” Koppelman asserts, “is like attacking the practice of medicine because you hate the idea of being vulnerable to illness.” Because the individual is embedded within and supported by society, freedom is nothing less than “a collective achievement.”
A cogent analysis of a misunderstood political philosophy.Pub Date: Oct. 4, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-250-28013-8
Page Count: 304
Publisher: St. Martin's
Review Posted Online: July 25, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2022
A short, smart analysis of perhaps the most famous passage in American history reveals its potency and unfulfilled promise.
Words that made a nation.
Isaacson is known for expansive biographies of great thinkers (and Elon Musk), but here he pens a succinct, stimulating commentary on the Founding Fathers’ ode to “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” His close reading of the Declaration of Independence’s second sentence, published to mark the 250th anniversary of the document’s adoption, doesn’t downplay its “moral contradiction.” Thomas Jefferson enslaved hundreds of people yet called slavery “a cruel war against human nature” in his first draft of the Declaration. All but 15 of the document’s 56 signers owned enslaved people. While the sentence in question asserted “all men are created equal” and possess “unalienable rights,” the Founders “consciously and intentionally” excluded women, Native Americans, and enslaved people. And yet the sentence is powerful, Isaacson writes, because it names a young nation’s “aspirations.” He mounts a solid defense of what ought to be shared goals, among them economic fairness, “moral compassion,” and a willingness to compromise. “Democracy depends on this,” he writes. Isaacson is excellent when explaining how Enlightenment intellectuals abroad influenced the founders. Benjamin Franklin, one of the Declaration’s “five-person drafting committee,” stayed in David Hume’s home for a month in the early 1770s, “discussing ideas of natural rights” with the Scottish philosopher. Also strong is Isaacson’s discussion of the “edits and tweaks” made to Jefferson’s draft. As recommended by Franklin and others, the changes were substantial, leaving Jefferson “distraught.” Franklin, who emerges as the book’s hero, helped establish municipal services, founded a library, and encouraged religious diversity—the kind of civic-mindedness that we could use more of today, Isaacson reminds us.
A short, smart analysis of perhaps the most famous passage in American history reveals its potency and unfulfilled promise.Pub Date: Nov. 18, 2025
ISBN: 9781982181314
Page Count: 80
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Aug. 29, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
A moving meditation on mortality by a gifted writer whose dual perspectives of physician and patient provide a singular...
A neurosurgeon with a passion for literature tragically finds his perfect subject after his diagnosis of terminal lung cancer.
Writing isn’t brain surgery, but it’s rare when someone adept at the latter is also so accomplished at the former. Searching for meaning and purpose in his life, Kalanithi pursued a doctorate in literature and had felt certain that he wouldn’t enter the field of medicine, in which his father and other members of his family excelled. “But I couldn’t let go of the question,” he writes, after realizing that his goals “didn’t quite fit in an English department.” “Where did biology, morality, literature and philosophy intersect?” So he decided to set aside his doctoral dissertation and belatedly prepare for medical school, which “would allow me a chance to find answers that are not in books, to find a different sort of sublime, to forge relationships with the suffering, and to keep following the question of what makes human life meaningful, even in the face of death and decay.” The author’s empathy undoubtedly made him an exceptional doctor, and the precision of his prose—as well as the moral purpose underscoring it—suggests that he could have written a good book on any subject he chose. Part of what makes this book so essential is the fact that it was written under a death sentence following the diagnosis that upended his life, just as he was preparing to end his residency and attract offers at the top of his profession. Kalanithi learned he might have 10 years to live or perhaps five. Should he return to neurosurgery (he could and did), or should he write (he also did)? Should he and his wife have a baby? They did, eight months before he died, which was less than two years after the original diagnosis. “The fact of death is unsettling,” he understates. “Yet there is no other way to live.”
A moving meditation on mortality by a gifted writer whose dual perspectives of physician and patient provide a singular clarity.Pub Date: Jan. 19, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-8129-8840-6
Page Count: 248
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: Sept. 29, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2015
PERSPECTIVES
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