I Chose Liberty - Ludwig von Mises Institute

230 I Chose Liberty: Autobiographies of Contemporary Libertarians
of economics, at that time mainly centered on Menger, Mises, and Hayek. The topic of
anarcho-capitalism had not yet aroused the Center’s interest. I am a scholar of the history
of political thought, so I was interested in the topics of the Center both from an historical
and a political standpoint. This was the time of my reading of Hayek’s Law, Legislation
and Liberty, The Constitution of Liberty, The Fatal Conceit, The Road to Serfdom, Mises’s
Human Action, and the works of David Hume, John Stuart Mill, and Bernard Mandeville.
Talking with friends and colleagues at the Center, just before leaving for the United
States, I thought it would be of some interest to locate some of the works of the people who
attended the famous Ludwig von Mises seminar at New York University. So at the end of
the summer of 1995, I left for the United States. When I arrived at Princeton I had at my
disposal the wonderful Firestone Library. There I conducted my research on Elizabeth Cady
Stanton and Susan Anthony, planning to publish an essay on them when I got back to Italy,
an intention I in fact carried out. At the same time I was reading Karen Vaughn’s Austrian
Economics in America: The Migration of an Idea. In that book, for the first time I saw the
name of Murray Rothbard, among the students listed as members of Mises’s seminar. What
I was reading about Rothbard in Vaughn’s book was so original and new I almost couldn’t
believe it. I decided I had to know more. So in the Firestone Library I read Rothbard’s For
a New Liberty: The Libertarian Manifesto and The Ethics of Liberty. I was really amazed. In
1995, Rothbard’s books had not yet been published in Italy; and here I found a completely
different species of anarchism—individualist anarchism or anarcho-capitalism. I was fascinated.
This was explosive stuff. The internal consistency of Rothbard’s discourse, his
personal interpretation of natural-law philosophy, and the radicalism and originality of his
political philosophy captured me. Moreover I was aware that I was confronting an original
systematic contemporary political project; and as an historian of political doctrine, I realized
that it was the newest expression of political reflection about people living together,
the “good life,” and the meaning and role of the state. I wanted to get to know the author.
I thought the best thing to do was to contact the economics department of New York
University, where I knew that some of the Austrian heirs of Mises were working, people
such as Israel Kirzner, Mario Rizzo, and Peter Boettke. I talked by phone to Mario Rizzo
and he kindly invited me to the Austrian seminar. When I arrived at New York University,
Professor Rizzo informed me that unfortunately Murray Rothbard had just died, in January
1995. I participated in the seminar and I had the opportunity to meet Mario Rizzo, Israel
Kirzner, Peter Boettke, and several others. Unfortunately I had missed the opportunity to
meet Rothbard, but coming back to Italy I decided that Rothbard’s anarcho-capitalism had
to be my next topic of study. I wanted to write a brief account of Rothbard’s anarchocapitalism
and introduce it to the Italian public. Back in Rome I spoke of my project to
Professor Antiseri and Professor Conti Odorisio. Both encouraged me to go on, and Antiseri
assured me of the support of the Methodology Center for Social Sciences. So, in 1998, I
published Murray Rothbard e l’anarco-capitalismo Americano (Rubbettino Editore).
Meanwhile, in 1997 I was invited to the I.S.I.L. (International Society for Individual
Liberty) Conference, taking place that year in Rome. There a very important meeting
took place, meaningful also for my future intellectual development. I met Walter Block
who suggested that I contact Lew Rockwell, the president of the Ludwig von Mises