The long-awaited (to put it mildly) 300+ page fifth volume of Rothbard’s history of the American founding, addressing the crucial period of the Constitutional Convention (which, you will not be surprised to learn, Rothbard views as something less than a heroic miracle of liberty) is finally available, both in print and as a free download.
Now I feel like an idiot for buying the hardback edition of CIL 10 years ago, since it didn’t include this volume.
Well, there isn’t going to be a one-volume edition containing all five as far as I know. There’ll continue to be the four-in-one volume that’s presumably the one you bought, plus now this standalone fifth volume to accompany it. That’s my impression anyway (though of course I no longer have as much inside info on Mises Institute plans as I used to).
They do seem to have designed the cover of the 5th volume to match that of the four-in-one.
The new book is designed to match the current four-in-one edition, but not the four-in-one edition I bought, which has a red cover with gold letters. I think mine has a better quality level than the current version, based on the price.
Has Rothbard’s books on the US founding ever been reviewed by professional historians of the period?
In the preface, Rothbard writes “Historians Robert E. Brown of Michigan State University and Forrest McDonald of Wayne State University were kind enough to read the entire manuscript and offer helpful suggestions even though it soon became clear to them and to myself that our fundamental disagreements tended to outweigh our agreements.”
This was a very good book. Thanks for the heads up.