@pensandpoison: At Columbia University, we read every socialist theorist under the sun—from Theodor Adorno to Jacques Derrida to Frantz Fanon to Karl Marx himself. But we never read the other side of the aisle. In colleges across the nation, socialism has become the dominant ideology—and by no accident, either. English departments teach almost exclusively far-left theorists, and as a result, the majority of students emerge from humanities departments with staunch socialist convictions that carry over into their adult lives. I’ve always been a capitalist—my parents’ abysmal experience living under socialism in the Soviet Union overrode every pro-socialist argument I heard from my professors—but until fairly recently, I’d never explored the intellectual underpinnings of capitalism in the same way that I was forced to dive into socialism during my undergraduate and graduate years. So over the past year, I’ve made it my mission to read as many liberal-minded (in the classical liberal sense!) theorists as possible, and I’d love to share some of my favorites with you all today. So if you believe in capitalism—or are just curious to learn from intellectuals who aren’t Marxists—here are some books that will get you started in understanding the pillars of capitalism and a free society.

Liza Libes

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Sunday 13 September 2026 20:33:33 GMT