This is the Cato Daily podcast for Thursday, February 27, 2025.

I'm Caleb Brown.

In modern libertarianism, author Brian Doherty tells readers about the individuals and groups

that define the thinking and presentation of libertarian ideas throughout the 20th century.

The book is published by Libertarianism.org.

I spoke with Doherty earlier this week.

A lot of this book deals with big names in libertarian thinking and advocacy in the 20th century,

but I think it's at least helpful to understand what were the

different emphases of libertarians in the 20th century versus the 19th century?

In 20th century American libertarianism, the version of the story that I'm telling in this book,

and I should preface all this, I'm speaking as a booster and enthusiast of

20th century American libertarianism, perhaps even more than, you know, the 19th century

classical liberal ideas from which

many of them were derived. And it's worth pointing out that many of the important figures in the

book from Milton Friedman to, to F.A. Hayek, to I think even Ludwig von Mises would argue that

there wasn't that much of a difference.

They considered themselves avatars and continuers of a 19th century tradition.

They didn't necessarily think they were bringing anything new to the table.

But, you know, there are five people who are kind of the spine of this story. I've just named three of them. The other two

are the ones who would say the exact opposite, who would indeed emphasize that their

versions of political philosophy actually did bring something fresh and new to the table.

That was Ein Rand, who used the name Objectivism for her entire philosophy

...