The fascinating women and weirdos who founded libertarianism | Brian Doherty | Reason Interview

Today's guest is Reason Senior Editor Brian Doherty, who has just published Modern Libertarianism: A Brief History of Classical Liberalism in the United States. His previous books include Radicals for Capitalism, the indispensable history of the libertarian movement, and titles covering the Ron Paul revolution, gun rights, Burning Man, and underground comics.

https://reason.com/podcast/2025/03/19/brain-doherty-the-fascinating-women-and-weirdos-who-founded-libertarianism/

Modern Libertarianism analyzes the political and cultural legacies of figures such as Ludwig von Mises, F.A. Hayek, Murray Rothbard, Milton Friedman, and Barry Goldwater. Doherty talks with Reason's Nick Gillespie about Ayn Rand and the other two women who helped conceptualize libertarian thought—Rose Wilder Lane and Isabel Paterson. Doherty and Gillespie also discuss how libertarians have played leading, if often underappreciated, roles in battles over free speech, international trade, immigration, deregulation, drug legalization, and lifestyle liberation.

This interview was recorded at The Reason Speakeasy, a live monthly event in New York City that doubles as a live taping of this podcast. For information on upcoming events, go here.

0:00 — Introduction
1:59 — New book: Modern Libertarianism
3:26 — Isabel Paterson and The God of the Machine
5:14 — Rose Wilder Lane and the libertarian roots of Little House on the Prairie
9:59 — How did libertarianism get so male-dominated?
18:08 — Ayn Rand
26:15 — Is the Trump administration libertarian at all?
29:17 — Robert LeFevre and Murray Rothbard's thoughts on blackmail and violence
34:14 — Kerry Thornley and his unlikely connection to Lee Harvey Oswald
39:19 — Barry Goldwater's influence on libertarianism
47:00 — The rising respectability of libertarianism
48:17 — Libertarianism is not conservatism or reactionary
52:27 — The Libertarian Party
55:00 — The Cato Institute
56:16 — Libertarianism's wins
58:00 — Burning Man