In June 2004, Professor Hans-Hermann Hoppe visited the Mises Institute to deliver an ambitious series of lectures titled Economy, Society, and History. What followed was an intellectual tour de force few academics would even attempt.

Over 10 lectures, one each morning and afternoon for a week, Dr. Hoppe presented nothing short of a sweeping historical narrative and vision for a society rooted in markets and property. Delivered only from notes, to an audience of academics and intellectuals, the lectures showed astonishing depth and breadth.

Even the most jaded scholars in the room were blown away by the erudition and scholarship of Hoppe’s presentation.

The result brought together the core of Hoppe’s lifetime of theoretical work in one vital and cohesive series. Here we find provocative themes developed by Hoppe in the 1980s and '90s, particularly in his essays found in A Theory of Socialism and Capitalism and The Economics and Ethics of Private Property. We also find his devastating critique of democracy, made famous in his seminal book Democracy, the God that Failed.

We have taken the recordings, edited them, and published them in a convenient book for those not lucky enough to have heard these lectures. This is entirely “new” material for the vast majority of Hoppe fans.

This book is a tremendous addition to Hoppe’s body of work and a hugely important contribution to the “big picture” outlook for the West. Hoppe’s work is more important today than ever, given the penchant of modern bureaucratic states to war, intervene, tax, regulate, debase, and generally plunder the engines of peace and civilization.