HOW I FOUND FREEDOM IN AN UNFREE WORLD

by Harry Browne ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 15, 1973

Freedom is one of those slippery words which some people spend a lifetime trying to fathom -- they're usually called philosophers or malcontents, because they never fred the answer, only more questions. Others glibly abuse the word, sloganizing it for political gain -- they're called presidents or senators or revolutionaries or Your Highness, because they have neither the answer nor know the questions. But most of us -- the common lot of mankind -- feel rather uncomfortable in the presence of such a weighty word -- we'd probably rather not think about it, content to bumble along in that state once so aptly called ""quiet desperation."" Harry Browne however doesn't fit any of these categories. He's what you might charitably call a freedom freak -- or uncharitably a midget Ayn Rand. You see, he's a missionary for laissez-faire, an apostle of anti-statism, a champion of complete and unfettered selfishness. ""Who rules the world? You do. Your world, that is."" Amen, Harry. You arrive with a clean slate. To be Free all you gotta do is avoid the Traps -- the Government Trap, the Group Trap, the Unselfishness Trap, the Morality Trap, the Identity Trap, the Burning-Issue Trap, the Box Trap, the Despair Trap, the Previous-Investment Trap, the Certainty Trap. Amen, Harry. ""To be free, you have only to make the decision to be free."" Amen, Harry, Amen. ""Freedom is waiting for you -- anytime you're ready for it."" Show me the gates, Harry. No, Harry Browne, whose other book How You Can Profit from the Coming Devaluation did very well, doesn't fit any of the categories because he has all the answerable questions and questionable answers. To paraphrase Dr. Johnson, ""You do not have to eat the whole oxymoron to find out that the meat is tough.

Pub Date: Feb. 15, 1973

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Macmillan

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1973

Categories: NONFICTION