
A Short History of Man
Progress and Decline
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed

Get 2 free audiobooks during trial.
Buy for $14.95
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
Millian Quinteros
About this listen
A Short History of Man: Progress and Decline represents nothing less than a sweeping revisionist history of mankind, in a concise and listenable volume. Dr. Hans-Hermann Hoppe skillfully weaves history, sociology, ethics, and Misesian praxeology to present an alternative - and highly challenging - view of human economic development over the ages.
As always, Dr. Hoppe addresses the fundamental questions as only he can. How do family and social bonds develop? Why is the concept of private property so vitally important to human flourishing? What made the leap from a Malthusian subsistence society to an industrial society possible? How did we devolve from aristocracy to monarchy to social democratic welfare states? And how did modern central governments become the all-powerful rulers over nearly every aspect of our lives?
Dr. Hoppe examines and answers all of these often thorny questions without resorting to platitudes or bowdlerized history. This is Hoppe at his best: calmly and methodically skewering sacred cows.
©2015 Ludwig von Mises Institute (P)2016 Ludwig von Mises InstituteListeners also enjoyed...
-
Conceived in Liberty
- By: Murray N. Rothbard
- Narrated by: Floy Lilley
- Length: 80 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The new single-volume edition of Conceived in Liberty is here! After so many years of having to juggle four volumes, the Mises Institute has finally put it all together in a single book. This makes it easier to listen to and makes clearer just what a contribution this book is to the history of libertarian literature. There's never been a better time to remember the revolutionary and even libertarian roots of the American founding, and there's no better guide to what this means in the narrative of the colonial period than Murray Rothbard.
-
-
Learned more here than 4 yrs of college
- By Scott Archer on 05-02-16
-
Democracy: The God That Failed
- The Economics and Politics of Monarchy, Democracy and Natural Order (Perspectives on Democratic Practice)
- By: Hans-Hermann Hoppe
- Narrated by: Paul Strikwerda
- Length: 12 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This sweeping book is a systematic treatment of the historic transformation of the West from limited monarchy to unlimited democracy. Revisionist in nature, it reaches the conclusion that monarchy, with all its failings, is a lesser evil than mass democracy but outlines deficiencies in both as systems of guarding liberty.
-
-
Audiobook Chapter 11 is actually a repeat of Chapter 9
- By Anonymous User on 08-23-21
-
The Capitalist Manifesto
- Why the Global Free Market Will Save the World
- By: Johan Norberg
- Narrated by: Mark Elstob
- Length: 8 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Marx and Engels were right when they observed in the Communist Manifesto that free markets had in a short time created greater prosperity and more technological innovation than all previous generations combined. A century and a half later, all the evidence shows that capitalism has lifted millions and millions from hunger and poverty. Today's story about global capitalism, shared by right-wing and left-wing populists, but also by large sections of the political and economic establishment, does not deny that prosperity has been created, but it says it ended up in far too few hands.
-
-
An unknown perspective
- By Salman Syed on 01-15-24
By: Johan Norberg
-
The Myth of National Defense
- Essays on the Theory and History of Security Production
- By: Hans-Hermann Hoppe
- Narrated by: George Pickering
- Length: 13 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
With 11 chapters by top libertarian scholars on all aspects of defense, this book edited by Hans-Hermann Hoppe it represents an ambitious attempt to extend the idea of free enterprise to the provision of security services. It argues that "national defense" as provided by government is a myth not unlike the myth of socialism itself. It is more viably privatized and replaced by the market provision of security.
-
A Theory of Socialism and Capitalism
- By: Hans-Hermann Hoppe
- Narrated by: Jim Vann
- Length: 8 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Here is Hans Hoppe's first treatise in English - actually his first book in English - and the one that put him on the map as a social thinker and economist to watch. He argued that there are only two possible archetypes in economic affairs: socialism and capitalism. All systems are combinations of those two types. The capitalist model he defines as pure protection of private property, free association, and exchange - no exceptions. All deviations from that ideal are species of socialism, with public ownership and interference with trade.
-
-
covenant vs syndicate
- By Taylor Britton on 05-16-20
-
From Aristocracy to Monarchy to Democracy
- A Tale of Moral and Economic Folly and Decay
- By: Hans-Hermann Hoppe
- Narrated by: Millian Quinteros
- Length: 1 hr and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this tour de force essay, Hans-Hermann Hoppe turns the standard account of historical governmental progress on its head. While the state is an evil in all its forms, monarchy is, in many ways, far less pernicious than democracy. Hoppe shows the evolution of government away from aristocracy, through monarchy, and toward the corruption and irresponsibility of democracy to have been identical with the growth of the leviathan state.
-
-
Solid logic from terrible premises.
- By Luzerspoon on 08-16-21
-
Conceived in Liberty
- By: Murray N. Rothbard
- Narrated by: Floy Lilley
- Length: 80 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The new single-volume edition of Conceived in Liberty is here! After so many years of having to juggle four volumes, the Mises Institute has finally put it all together in a single book. This makes it easier to listen to and makes clearer just what a contribution this book is to the history of libertarian literature. There's never been a better time to remember the revolutionary and even libertarian roots of the American founding, and there's no better guide to what this means in the narrative of the colonial period than Murray Rothbard.
-
-
Learned more here than 4 yrs of college
- By Scott Archer on 05-02-16
-
Democracy: The God That Failed
- The Economics and Politics of Monarchy, Democracy and Natural Order (Perspectives on Democratic Practice)
- By: Hans-Hermann Hoppe
- Narrated by: Paul Strikwerda
- Length: 12 hrs and 23 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
This sweeping book is a systematic treatment of the historic transformation of the West from limited monarchy to unlimited democracy. Revisionist in nature, it reaches the conclusion that monarchy, with all its failings, is a lesser evil than mass democracy but outlines deficiencies in both as systems of guarding liberty.
-
-
Audiobook Chapter 11 is actually a repeat of Chapter 9
- By Anonymous User on 08-23-21
-
The Capitalist Manifesto
- Why the Global Free Market Will Save the World
- By: Johan Norberg
- Narrated by: Mark Elstob
- Length: 8 hrs and 53 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Marx and Engels were right when they observed in the Communist Manifesto that free markets had in a short time created greater prosperity and more technological innovation than all previous generations combined. A century and a half later, all the evidence shows that capitalism has lifted millions and millions from hunger and poverty. Today's story about global capitalism, shared by right-wing and left-wing populists, but also by large sections of the political and economic establishment, does not deny that prosperity has been created, but it says it ended up in far too few hands.
-
-
An unknown perspective
- By Salman Syed on 01-15-24
By: Johan Norberg
-
The Myth of National Defense
- Essays on the Theory and History of Security Production
- By: Hans-Hermann Hoppe
- Narrated by: George Pickering
- Length: 13 hrs and 20 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
With 11 chapters by top libertarian scholars on all aspects of defense, this book edited by Hans-Hermann Hoppe it represents an ambitious attempt to extend the idea of free enterprise to the provision of security services. It argues that "national defense" as provided by government is a myth not unlike the myth of socialism itself. It is more viably privatized and replaced by the market provision of security.
-
A Theory of Socialism and Capitalism
- By: Hans-Hermann Hoppe
- Narrated by: Jim Vann
- Length: 8 hrs and 26 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Here is Hans Hoppe's first treatise in English - actually his first book in English - and the one that put him on the map as a social thinker and economist to watch. He argued that there are only two possible archetypes in economic affairs: socialism and capitalism. All systems are combinations of those two types. The capitalist model he defines as pure protection of private property, free association, and exchange - no exceptions. All deviations from that ideal are species of socialism, with public ownership and interference with trade.
-
-
covenant vs syndicate
- By Taylor Britton on 05-16-20
-
From Aristocracy to Monarchy to Democracy
- A Tale of Moral and Economic Folly and Decay
- By: Hans-Hermann Hoppe
- Narrated by: Millian Quinteros
- Length: 1 hr and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this tour de force essay, Hans-Hermann Hoppe turns the standard account of historical governmental progress on its head. While the state is an evil in all its forms, monarchy is, in many ways, far less pernicious than democracy. Hoppe shows the evolution of government away from aristocracy, through monarchy, and toward the corruption and irresponsibility of democracy to have been identical with the growth of the leviathan state.
-
-
Solid logic from terrible premises.
- By Luzerspoon on 08-16-21
-
Economy, Society, and History
- By: Hans-Hermann Hoppe
- Narrated by: Paul Strikwerda
- Length: 5 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
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.
-
-
Exceptional Concepts of Liberty
- By Millis on 04-21-25
-
The Private Production of Defense
- By: Hans-Hermann Hoppe
- Narrated by: Jim Vann
- Length: 1 hr and 16 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In The Private Production of Defense, Hoppe takes on one the most difficult subjects in economic and political theory: the provision of security. Addressing those who would claim that only the state can and should supply society with the service of protection, Hoppe argues that in fact it is better provided by free markets than government. In the process he tackles a hundred counterarguments. Here we have an important and exhilarating update and refinement of an argument rarely made even in the libertarian tradition.
-
-
Ground breaking thinking
- By peter on 07-15-22
-
The White Pill
- A Tale of Good and Evil
- By: Michael Malice
- Narrated by: Michael Malice
- Length: 9 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Bolsheviks promised that they were building a new society, a workers’ paradise that would change the nature of mankind itself. What they ended up constructing was the largest prison the world had ever seen: a Union of Soviet Socialist Republics that spanned half the globe.
-
-
Do not buy the audio version.
- By Todd on 02-20-23
By: Michael Malice
-
The Anarchist Handbook
- By: Michael Malice
- Narrated by: Michael Malice
- Length: 13 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Anarchism has been both a vision of a peaceful, cooperative society — and an ideology of revolutionary terror. Since the term itself — anarchism — is a negation, there is a great deal of disagreement on what the positive alternative would look like. The black flag comes in many colors.
-
-
An absolute gem
- By Tim on 12-16-21
By: Michael Malice
-
For a New Liberty
- The Libertarian Manifesto
- By: Murray N. Rothbard
- Narrated by: Jeff Riggenbach
- Length: 15 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In For a New Liberty: The Libertarian Manifesto, Rothbard proposes a once-and-for-all escape from the two major political parties, the ideologies they embrace, and their central plans for using state power against people. Libertarianism is Rothbard's radical alternative that says state power is unworkable and immoral, and ought to be curbed and finally overthrown.
-
-
I'm a Ron Paul Libertarian but this is a good
- By monte reed on 03-20-12
-
Economics in One Lesson
- By: Henry Hazlitt
- Narrated by: Jeff Riggenbach
- Length: 6 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A million-copy seller, Henry Hazlitt’s Economics in One Lesson is a classic economic primer. But it is also much more, having become a fundamental influence on modern “libertarian” economics of the type espoused by Ron Paul and others. Called by H. L. Mencken “one of the few economists in history who could really write,” Henry Hazlitt achieved lasting fame for this brilliant but concise work.
-
-
The truth about Economics
- By Captain Amazing! on 02-01-03
By: Henry Hazlitt
-
A History of Money and Banking in the United States: The Colonial Era to World War II
- By: Murray N. Rothbard
- Narrated by: Matthew Mezinskis
- Length: 13 hrs and 48 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In what is sure to become the standard account, Rothbard traces inflations, banking panics, and money meltdowns from the colonial period through the mid-20th century to show how government's systematic war on sound money is the hidden force behind nearly all major economic calamities in American history. Never has the story of money and banking been told with such rhetorical power and theoretical vigor. You will treasure this volume.
-
-
Great facts (if selective); ideological rigidity
- By Philo on 02-04-16
-
The Anatomy of the State (LvMI)
- By: Murray N. Rothbard
- Narrated by: John Riddle
- Length: 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Murray Rothbard was known as the state's greatest living enemy, and this audiobook is his most powerful statement on the topic. He explains what a state is and what it is not. He shows how it is an institution that violates all that we hold as honest and moral, and how it operates under a false cover.
-
-
Good material
- By Tom on 12-14-19
-
Sapiens
- A Brief History of Humankind
- By: Yuval Noah Harari
- Narrated by: Derek Perkins
- Length: 15 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Most books about the history of humanity pursue either a historical or a biological approach, but Dr. Yuval Noah Harari breaks the mold with this highly original book. From examining the role evolving humans have played in the global ecosystem to charting the rise of empires, Sapiens integrates history and science to reconsider accepted narratives, connect past developments with contemporary concerns, and examine specific events within the context of larger ideas.
-
-
Should be required reading
- By Blue Zion on 12-22-18
-
What Has Government Done to Our Money?
- and The Case for a 100 Percent Gold Dollar
- By: Murray N. Rothbard
- Narrated by: Jeff Riggenbach
- Length: 5 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The Mises Institute is pleased to present this audio edition of Rothbard's most famous monetary essay - the one that has influenced two generations of economists, investors, and business professionals. The Mises Institute has united this book with its natural complement: a detailed reform proposal for a 100 percent gold dollar. "The Case for a 100 Percent Gold Dollar" was written a decade before the last vestiges of the gold standard were abolished.
-
-
Excellent!
- By James on 01-08-20
-
Science, Technology, and Government
- By: Murray N. Rothbard
- Narrated by: Millian Quinteros
- Length: 1 hr and 31 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In this previously unpublished manuscript, found in the Rothbard Archives, Rothbard deftly turns the tables on the supporters of big government and their mandate for control of research and development in all areas of the hard sciences. What R&D should be encouraged and funded, what inventions should be supported, and what areas should be given research grants, etc.? These decisions can be decided only by markets unburdened by government meddling and intervention.
-
-
Short, pragmatic read
- By Joshua on 01-17-19
-
The Progressive Era
- By: Murray N. Rothbard
- Narrated by: Graham Wright
- Length: 24 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Rothbard's posthumous masterpiece is the definitive book on the Progressives. It will soon be the must read study of this dreadful time in our past. (from the foreword by Judge Andrew P. Napolitano) The current relationship between the modern state and the economy has its roots in the Progressive Era. (from the introduction by Patrick Newman) In short, the Progressive Era ushered the modern American politico-economic system into being. (from the preface by Murray N. Rothbard)
-
-
Details... Oh my God, the details
- By Russell Herbst on 05-25-18
Millian Quinteros seems to be a bit hurried as he reads the text. But, I nevertheless appreciate the fact that he did read it!
Brief and Concise
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Well worth the time
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
A good general overview
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
truly eye-opening
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Hans Hoppe is my favorite intellectual
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Slow but interesting
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Thee book is small but very precise. In other books, Hoppe explores in detail many things he mentioned in this book.
Very good book
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Bad narration for a pretty good book
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Narrative misread: I want my credit back.
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Prehistoric Fairytale
Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.