In 1944, with the end of World War II in sight and the Great Depression finally in the past, America’s rulers were thinking about the next step. Should they adopt the planned, collectivist economies that had spread across Europe in the 1930s or should they embrace free market capitalism? Hayek, understanding just how enticing a move to a planned economy sounded to many at that time, wrote his famous Road to Serfdom, which explains how planned economies always lead to totalitarianism. 

How often do you think about where your food comes from? With all the drama that our food system has endured in the past two years–due to COVID-19 lockdowns, supply chain issues, and inflation–it’s likely that you find yourself thinking about the inner workings of our food system more often than you used to. The girls (and Matt) have definitely been thinking hard about our food system recently and, as a result, decided to watch and dig into the classic food documentary Food Inc. 

Girls Gotta Read is a Liberty focused book club for people from all walks of life! Tune in each Monday for a new podcast episod

As far as 20th-century literature goes, there’s no writer more prescient and in touch with the impulses and desires that drive human action (for better and for worse) than George Orwell. Once a “moth-eaten, “morose” young student with a bone to pick regarding the circumstances of his upbringing, Orwell went on to shake his hangups and soon enough developed into one of the finest, most influential writers of his age. His clear, matter of fact prose has allowed his work to endure and come to life in our modern-day—when, alarmingly, both his warning to be skeptical of revolutionaries, as expressed in Animal Farm and his concern that language would be co-opted for nefarious purposes by a “Democratic” ruling class, as detailed in 1984, seem to have become more relevant than ever.

If Tom Wolfe were alive, what would you want him to write about? Though he isn’t with us today to navigate this clown world and the news stories that seem to only get crazier with the passing of time, the man has thankfully left behind a treasure trove of material that unmasks the hypocrisy of so many cultural movements and class clashes throughout the second half of the 20th century with unparalleled style and acuity.

On this episode, the girls discuss Wolfe’s unsparing, irrevent, and highly entertaining deep dive into how the “statusphere” of New York’s jet set was upended by a single party in 1970. Also, who is the flak catcher and why is he being mau-maued? Find out this and more on this episode of GGR!

The great American novelist and essayist Tom Wolfe is remembered today for his unapologetically honest, oftentimes hilarious, and frequently scathing writing on class and status in American society. An essayist turned novelist, Wolfe possessed an unparalleled ability to cut through the hypocrisy of his day and hold a mirror up to the people, events, and cultures he wrote about. 

Whether you love or hate him, there is no denying Tom Wolfe’s genius.

Just in time for Tax Day, the girls discuss Frederic Bastiat’s premier work, The Law. Bastiat wrote this book as an emergency plea against statism, which he recognized as the most pressing threat to the “life, liberty, and property” of the individual. What is the purpose of the law, what happens when law becomes perverted, and how should those in power prevent this perversion? These are key questions that Bastiat answers with the eloquence, urgency, and intensity necessary to properly address the problems that were afflicting the French Second Republic at the time of publication.

The Law Fast Facts: 

• Published in 1850, just a few months before Bastiat’s death and two years into the establishment of the French Republic 
• Influenced heavily by Locke’s Second Treatise

Influenced Henry Hazlitt’s Economics in One Lesson