The Man versus the State, by Herbert Spencer

From the Dust Jacket of a Classic Edition of The Man versus the State:

A Classic Statement of the Case for Individual Liberty -- A Theme Revived in an Acute Form by the Struggle between the Democratic and Totalitarian Systems.

... we are in a course of rebarbarization, and that there is no prospect but that of military despotisms, which we are rapidly approaching.

From the Introduction:

... this work [Social Statics; or, The Conditions Essential to Human Happiness Specified] ... established and made clear the fundamental principle that society should be organized on the basis of voluntary cooperation, not on the basis of compulsory cooperation, or under the threat of it. In a word, it established the principle of individualism as against Statism -- against the principle underlying all collectivist doctrines which are everywhere dominant at the present time.

The Man versus the State Table of Contents:

The New Toryism
The Coming Slavery
From Freedom to Bondage
The Sins of Legislators
Over-Legislation
The Great Political Superstition
Index

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