Between the Two World Wars: Monetary Disorder, Interventionism, Socialism, and the Great Depression

by Ludwig von Mises, Richard M. Ebeling (Editor), Paolo M. Gomez

In 1934, Ludwig von Mises left his native Austria in fear of the Nazis, who seized all his papers in 1938 in Vienna and, Mises thought, destroyed them, but the papers were not destroyed. In 1996, Richard and Anna Ebeling discovered the papers in an archive in Moscow. This volume from Liberty Fund represents a treasure trove of important essays. Ludwig von Mises (1881–1973) was the leading spokesman of the Austrian School of economics throughout most of the twentieth century. Richard Ebeling is Professor of Economics at Northwood University.

Genres: Economics, History, Reference

453 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 2002

About the author

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.

Reviews

[Patrick Peterson]

2026-05-30 I started reading this a few weeks ago. Really neat. Another fantastic introduction by the editor, Richard Ebeling, just as in the 1st volume in the 3 volume series. Many very different issues dealt with by Mises in this book/series compared to his other more popular and long-in-print books, such as Human Action, Socialism, Theory of Money and Credit, etc.

Many of the essays/speeches in this book have only been translated and printed in the last 20 years or so, almost 100 years since they were originally written/delivered. The reasons are described in the introduction here and in vol. #1 - the Nazi's confiscated them during the Anschluss of Austria in 1938... then the Soviets found the boxcar they were being held in during WWII, and they put them in a secret KGB archive in Moscow... till they were discovered in 1996 by Richard Ebeling.

What a story, eh? Read about it here, as well as what Mises actually wrote that both the Nazis and the Soviets thought his work was too dangerous to allow the public to consume.

I plan to add more about these essays and speeches as I read more or finish this wonderful volume.

[Chris Richardson · Rating 5 out of 5]

It is amazing that these essays exist. If you have read human action, some essays will only make for a refresher, but the explorations of current issues are as relevant today as they were then.