
New audio recording of individualist classic --

Max Stirner, whose radical defense of liberty provoked a 300-page
outburst from Karl Marx

THE EGO AND HIS OWN: The Case of the Individual Against Authority
by Max Stirner, translated by Steven Byington, read by Jeff Riggenbach,
introduction by James S. Martin (reviewed by Jim Powell)

  Few Americans seem to know much about the great German individualist
Johann Caspar Schmidt (1806-1856), who wrote under the pseudonym Max
Stirner, in part because his work is almost impossible to find here.
Stirner taught history, wrote essays about education, translated works
by Adam Smith and J.B. Say into German and produced this radical case
for individualism.
  First published in 1845, _The Ego and His Own_ isn't elegantly written
like John Stuart Mill's famous _On Liberty_, but Stirner based his case
on bedrock principle.  Whereas Mill urged that individuality should be
tolerated because of potential usefulness -- you never know who will
contribute to society -- Stirner insisted that individuals have rights
because they are human beings, regardless what they might contribute.
He attacked any doctrine which subordinates individuals to a powerful
authority.
  "Every State is a despotism, be the despot one or many," he declared.
Stirner's opponents dismissed his views as selfishness, but he observed
that individualism is hated because it makes individuals sovereign and
seeks strict limits on government power: "The own will of Me is the
State's destroyer; it is therefore branded by the State as 'self will.'"
Stirner displayed awesome insight when he attacked communism, then in its
infancy: "loudly as it always attacks the 'State', what it intends is
itself again a State ... a sovereign power over me."
  Well, Karl Marx recognized that individualism, especially an
uncompromising free spirit like Stirner, was an arch-enemy of his frenzied
collectivism.  Within a year after _The Ego and His Own_ appeared, Marx
wrote _The German Ideology_, 300 pages of vicious bombast aimed mainly at
Stirner. It's hard to imagine a more impressive compliment for a friend of
freedom.
  Stirner's master work is still hard to find, but Laissez Faire Books
arranged for this thoughtful reading of the complete text by noted
national broadcaster Jeff Riggenbach.  He displays a firm, pleasing command
of Stirner's provocative ideas.  In a vinyl binder.

LI6170 (10 audiotapes, 14.5 hours)  $49.95


