On Doing the Right Thing

by Albert Jay Nock

This wonderful collection of essays by the great American essayist and influential libertarian thinker Albert Jay Nock includes his "Anarchist's Progress," "Thoughts on Revolution," "The Decline of Conversation," and other classics.

This book, first published in 1928, has been very difficult to find, but is now available in this special Mises Institute edition.

To search for Mises Institute titles, enter a keyword and LvMI (short for Ludwig von Mises Institute); e.g., Depression LvMI

Genres: Politics, Philosophy, Nonfiction, Essays

140 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1928

About the author

American libertarian author, Georgist, social critic of the early and middle 20th century, outspoken opponent of the New Deal.

He served as a inspiration for the modern libertarian and Conservative movements.

He was one of the first Americans to self-identify as "libertarian"

http://alumnus.caltech.edu/~ckank/Ful...

Reviews

[Daniel · Rating 3 out of 5]

A mixed bag of essays--some odd, some striking, some tremendously insightful--from an early 20th century lib... [see the rest on my book review site.]

[Brent McGregor · Rating 5 out of 5]

For a book written almost a hundred years ago, Nock's observations are still dead on.
The essays of Albert J Nock are some of the most fascinating from the early 20th Century that I've read. His observations regarding Ward's influence on Lincoln and the famous reading of the Emancipation Proclamation was thought provoking.
Simple conversation is taken apart and studied in a no holds barred critique of our civilization.
And Education? Put your seat belts on; A Cultural Forecast, and Towards a New Quality-Product is brutal (and true).
It was amusing and heartbreaking that in On Doing the Right Thing, he lamented that in England, fornication was not against the law. That will give you some indication how 'old' this work is.
Being almost as close, historically, to the birth of this Nation as he is from today, it remains an interesting point in time where things changed almost overnight.
Every American needs to read what Nock has to say.

[Sylvester · Rating 4 out of 5]

On Doing the Right Thing is an essay collection on some of Nock's thoughts. It begins with Artemus Ward that was basically irrelevant to help me get any concrete knowledge; then you have The Decline of Conversation, which Nock talked about the importance of free ideas. On Making Low People Interesting is about the decline of meaningful education, it runs the same vein with A Cultural Forecast and Towards a New Quality-Product. Anarchist's Progress is perhaps the most important essay in this collection which Nock talked about how he began to understand why the State monopolises crime and keeps people from being successful. Finally, the last 3 essays focused on creative music, the communist brainwashing and the Founding Fathers.

You can skip most of the essays, just focus on the anarchist one as it is the one that has significant importance.

[Zachary Moore · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another fine collection of essays by Nock. The first few concern some literary figures I was not aware of, although most of the rest of the essays include much interesting thoughts on politics, art and culture and most are worth the read.

[Miro Nguyen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Many of his ideas are still relevant today, very insightful, some sharp comparisons.