Michael Malice has an excellent new compendium out, The Anarchist Handbook, excerpting key writings of a number of important anarchist thinkers. They are, in order:
- Peter Kropotkin
- William Godwin
- Leo Tolstoy
- Max Stirner
- Alexander Berkman
- Pierre-Joseph Proudhon
- Voltairine de Cleyre
- Herbert Spencer
- Emma Goldman
- Josiah Warren
- Charles Robert Plunkett
- Mikhail Bakunin
- Linda and Morris Tannehill
- Lysander Spooner
- David Friedman
- Johann Most
- Murray Rothbard
- Louis Lingg
- John Hasnas
- Benjamin R. Tucker
- Michael Malice
His selections are of course not comprehensive, but while going over his list a few other important anarchist thinkers occurred to me who are not included. I offer this eclectic list as a supplement for those looking for further readings along the lines of Malice’s collection. My list is also not comprehensive; it is mostly some of my personal favorites or influences. Readers are invited to submit other possible important works I have missed.
Update: Keith Knight’s recent The Voluntaryist Handbook (2022) actually includes some of the works that I suggest below, plus many others.
- Gustave de Molinari (1819–1912), The Production of Security (online); see also resources at the Molinari Institute
- Auberon Herbert (1838–1906), The Right and Wrong of Compulsion by the State; see other works by/about Herbert at the Molinari Institute
- Hans-Hermann Hoppe (1949–), “Government and the Private Production of Defense,” in The Myth of National Defense: Essays on the Theory and History of Security Production (online); also “The Private Production of Defense,” in The Great Fiction
- Robert Murphy (1976–), Chaos Theory: Two Essays on Market Anarchy (online) [in particular, sections I, II, and III, on pp. 14-20]
- Roderick Long (1964–), e.g. “Market Anarchism as Constitutionalism,” in Anarchism Minarchism: Is a Government Part of a Free Country?; see others in Formulations and at the Molinari Institute
- George H. Smith (1949–), “Justice Entrepreneurship in a Free Market,” in Atheism, Ayn Rand, and Other Heresies; see other works at the Molinari Institute
- Albert Jay Nock (1870–1945), Our Enemy, The State; online at FEE); see other works by/about Nock at the Molinari Institute
- Wendy McElroy (1951–), “Why I Would Not Vote Against Hitler” and “The Liberty Debate on Participation in Politics“; others here; see also Debates of Liberty: An Overview of Individualist Anarchism, 1881–1908 and other work here and here; see other works at the Molinari Institute.
- Also:
- Anthony de Jasay (1925–2019), The State and Against Politics
- Murray N. Rothbard (1926–95), “Robert Nozick and the Immaculate Conception of the State“; “The Origins of Individualist Anarchism in the US“; “Are Libertarians ‘Anarchists’?“
- Randy Barnett (1952–), “Imagining a Polycentric Constitutional Order: A Short Fable,” in The Structure of Liberty ; see other works at the Molinari Institute
- Bruce Benson (1949–), “The Mythology of Holdout as Justification for Eminent Domain and Public Provision of Roads” (and see also David Henderson, “Bruce Benson on the Holdout Problem“; also The Enterprise of Law: Justice Without the State; others at Molinari Institute
- John Hasnas, “The Obviousness of Anarchy“
- Gerard Casey (1951–), Libertarian Anarchy: Against the State and “Reflections on Legal Polycentrism“
- Stephan Kinsella (1965–), “What It Means To Be an Anarcho-Capitalist“
Honorable Mention
- Alfred Cuzán” (1948–), Do We Ever Really Get Out of Anarchy?” (because he’s not an anarchist); also “Revisiting ‘Do We Ever Really Get Out of Anarchy?‘”
- Roy A. Childs, Jr. (1949–92), “Objectivism and the State: An Open Letter to Ayn Rand“; because while initially an influential libertarian anarchist, he later (apparently) recanted
- Paul-Émile de Puydt (1810–91) Panarchy (h/t Timo Virkkala)
Other Useful Works and Resources
- Various resources at the Molinari Institute
- James Martin, Men Against the State; The Expositors of Individualist Anarchism in America 1827-1908
- Joe Peacott, An Overview of Individualist Anarchist Thought
- Hoppe, Anarcho-Capitalism: An Annotated Bibliography
- Kinsella, The Greatest Libertarian Books
- Machan and Long, Anarchism Minarchism: Is a Government Part of a Free Country?
- Edward P. Stringham, Anarchy and the Law: The Political Economy of Choice
- McElroy, Debates of Liberty: An Overview of Individualist Anarchism, 1881–1908
- Formulations (Free Nation Foundation, 1993–2002)
- Leonard I. Krimerman & Lewis Perry, eds., Patterns of Anarchy – A Collection of Writings on the Anarchist Tradition, mentioned by Malice as one of his inspirations for his project, in Tom Woods #1905
- Peter Marshall, Demanding the Impossible: A History of Anarchism
- Daniel Guérin, Anarchism: From Theory to Practice and No Gods No Masters: An Anthology of Anarchism
- J. Roland Pennock & John W. Chapman, eds., Anarchism
Hmm, yet again, “He Who Shall Not Be Mentioned” isn’t mentioned. The principled ancap who’s powerful writings basically crystalized my foundations. I’m genuinely curious why you don’t find the relationship based arguments (eg. the “Against Me” argument) more compelling – they’re very similar to Argumentation Ethics, but they actually acknowledge our emotional dimension, which is arguably more powerful than our logical one.
Who would that be? I was thinking Larken Rose.
Not sure who you mean–perhaps my friend Stefan Molyneux? My list is not meant to be comprehensive, but more my own favorites and influences, and he didn’t influence me at all, nor did “Larken Rose”, nor am I aware of any of their arguments that are not just repeats of, reformulations of, or cumulative with others’ material.
Nobody on your list explored the implications of actually integrating the NAP (morality) into real life, into our personal relationships, etc. They all kept things in abstract-land, in theory-land, far away from messy uncomfortable reality. Personal relationship-based arguments, like the so-called “Against Me” argument are far more useful than any legal treatise.
Out of curiosity, is Hoppe’s wife an ancap? I know many ancaps who’s wives are “apolitical” or don’t give a shit about actual morality. What’s the point of any of this, if we can’t even get those closest to us to give a shit?
You say “he who shall not be named.” Why don’t you mention a name? I am not blocking anything. I assume you mean Stefan Molyneux. Why the vague insinuations? Be plain and clear.
And your question here is weird–what business is Hoppe’s marriage of yours? You sound like a wannabe Randian cultist. Go mind your own business.