A collection of scholarly works about individual liberty and free markets. A project of Liberty Fund, Inc.

The OLL Reader: An Anthology of the Best of the Online Library of Liberty

Updated October 1, 2018

[This anthology is a work in progress. There are currently 92 items in the main OLL Reader, plus another 173 items in the additional expanded sections.]

[From left to right: John Milton, John Locke, Adam Smith, Richard Cobden, Frédéric Bastiat, J.S. Mill, Benjamin Constant, Alexis de Tocqueville, Ludwig von Mises]

This Anthology is a selection of chapters and extracts taken from the most important and influential books in the OLL. They are available in a variety of eBook formats - ePub, text PDF, and Kindle - and we are working on creating a stand-alone HTML version as well (see the list here). We also provide a link back to the original book from which the extract was taken ("Source").

We have arranged the collection here into themes in order to illustrate the breadth and depth of the classical liberal and free market tradition. It should serve as a useful guide to those who would like to explore this tradition further. Each extract is preceded by a brief biography of the author and some explanation of why the text is important, and followed by links to other related material in the OLL.

From time to time we publish the entire collection as one file. The most recent edition is:

The Best of the OLL: A Reader on Individual, Economic, and Political Liberty (Indianapolis: Liberty Fund, 2014). It contains 69 items </titles/2636>

There is additional material in the collection of over 500 Quotations about Liberty and Power one of which is featured on the home page every week. They are categorized thematically so the reader can more easily explore the contents in the OLL:

Colonies, Slavery & Abolition | Economics | Education | Food & Drink | Free Trade | Freedom of Speech | Law | Liberty | Literature & Music | Money & Banking | Natural Rights | Odds & Ends | Origin of Government | Parties & Elections | Philosophy | Politics & Liberty | Presidents, Kings, Tyrants, & Despots | Property Rights | Religion & Toleration | Revolution | Science | Socialism & Interventionism | Sport and Liberty | Taxation | The State | War & Peace | Women’s Rights

Table of Contents

The Reader is divided into the following sections:

PART I: SCEPTICISM ABOUT POWER↩

Also see the collection of Quotations about Liberty and Power on the topics of: Presidents, Kings, Tyrants, & Despots | Parties & Elections | Taxation

PART II: THE BASIC PRINCIPLES↩

Also see the collection of Quotations about Liberty and Power on the topic of: Natural Rights | Property Rights | Philosophy

PART III: POLITICAL LIBERTY↩

Also see the collection of Quotations about Liberty and Power on the topics of : Freedom of Speech | Law | Liberty | Religion & Toleration | Politics & Liberty | Revolution | Education

PART IV: ECONOMIC LIBERTY↩

Also see the collection of Quotations about Liberty and Power on the topics of: Colonies, Slavery & Abolition | Economics | Free Trade | Money & Banking

PART V: INDIVIDUAL LIBERTY↩

Also see the collection of Quotations about Liberty and Power on the topic of: Liberty | Women’s Rights

PART VI: WAR & PEACE↩

Also see the collection of Quotations about Liberty and Power on the topic of: War & Peace

PART VII: KEY LEGAL & POLITICAL DOCUMENTS↩

Also see the collection of Key Documents of Liberty in which there are 100 documents stretching back to the Code of Hammurabi.

PART VIII: THE HISTORY OF LIBERTY & POWER↩

Also see the collection of Quotations about Liberty and Power on the topics of: Origin of Government | The State

PART IX: THE LITERATURE OF LIBERTY↩

No. 69: John Thelwall, "Political Songs" (1795) PDF - ePub - Kindle - HTML - Book Source No. 51: Percy Bysshe Shelley, “On Liberty” (1810–22) PDF - ePub - Kindle - HTML - Source [see PDF vesion for details]

Also see the collection of Quotations about Liberty and Power on the topic of: Literature & Music

PART X: THE CRITIQUE OF SOCIALISM AND INTERVENTIONISM↩

Also see:

the collection of Quotations about Liberty and Power on the topic of: Socialism & Interventionism

Socialism: A Study Guide and Reader

PART XI: THE RULING CLASS AND THE STATE↩

This section has been expanded. See "The Ruling Class and the State". Also see the collection of Quotations about Liberty and Power on the topics of: Origin of Government | The State | Presidents, Kings, Tyrants, & Despots

PART XII: VISIONS OF THE FUTURE↩