This volume might be called the Mises Reader, for it contains a wide sampling of his academic essays on money, trade, and economic systems. Some of them, like "Observations on the Cooperative Movement," have not been published previously. Others, like "The Idea of Liberty Is Western," have already made their mark on intellectual history. Brought together by Mrs. Mises after her husband's death, and edited with an introduction by Richard Ebeling, this volume fills an important gap in providing an overview of Ludwig von Mises's best academic work. For that reason, this book is already widely used in graduate courses and seminars on the resurgence of the Austrian School.
Ludwig Heinrich Edler von Mises (German pronunciation: [ˈluːtvɪç fɔn ˈmiːzəs]; September 29, 1881 – October 10, 1973) was an Austrian economist, historian, philosopher, author, and classical liberal who had a significant influence on the Austrian government's economic policies in the first third of the 20th century, the Austrian School of Economics, and the modern free-market libertarian movement.