Ludwig von Mises is not the most well-known classical liberal political economist of the twentieth century. He has remained relatively obscure because both methodologically and ideologically his thinking went against the prevailing mood and on a personal level he was more difficult to approach than other thinkers of his time. However, among those in the know, he is considered to be the architect of Austrian economic thought, the most ardent defender of classical liberalism in the last century and history's strongest critic of socialism.