• "Well written, well researched, and the thesis put forth is well argued.... Woods has opened up an area of historical analysis that should invite further study."
    -Journal of American History

  • "During these times that challenge our freedoms there is no one more qualified to make U.S. history relevant to the fight against big government than Thomas Woods."
    -Barry Goldwater Jr.
    Former Member of Congress

  • "I strongly recommend Woods's work."
    -The Honorable Ron Paul,
    U.S. House of Representatives

  • "Written with great clarity and fluency, making the complex philosophical and theological concepts approachable."
    -Journal of American Studies

  • "A must-read."
    -Barron's

  • "An excellent reading source for anyone interested in financial markets, and much more so for anyone interested in learning about capitalism without all the misinterpretations being thrown about in the financial media."
    -Asia Times

  • "Provocative, well-written, and deserves to be read."
    -Catholic Historical Review

  • "An engaging and important contribution to scholarship on the history of American Catholicism."
    -Journal of the Historical Society

  • "Woods and [co-author Kevin] Gutzman appeal to both left and right in this constitutionalist jeremiad…. The authors' exegeses of the Constitution and court decisions, heavy on original intent arguments, are lucid and telling."
    -Publishers Weekly

  • "A marvelous read. Every chapter taught me something new and unexpected."
    -Tom Bethell, senior editor,
    The American Spectator

  • "The hottest book today is Meltdown, by my friend Tom Woods."
    -Judge Andrew Napolitano, senior judicial analyst,
    FOX News Channel

  • "Should be required reading."
    -Economic Affairs (London)

  • "Woods, one of the best classical liberal [libertarian] scholars of his generation, has once more placed us in his debt with this lucid and tightly argued book."
    -David Gordon, The Mises Review

  • "Tom Woods is one of my dearest allies in the struggle against wrong-headed and dangerous economic policy."
    -Peter Schiff

Economics Resources

Meltdown, my new book, promises in the appendix that my website will link readers to the reading lists I put together for self-education in economics and sound money.  Here they are (1, 2).  I’ll figure out soon where to put them as a permanent feature of the site.

  • Ben Smith

    Good luck. Just heard you on Glenn Beck
    I’m a conservative and blame Wall St/bankers 70% and the Feds 30% for this mess. Follow the money and see who actually profited from this debacle, taking home billions in bonuses for writng and peddling derivatives and CMOs and credit default swaps. Lehman and Merrill demanded sub primes from mortgage brokers. They vacuumed them up (demand pull) into their collateralized mortgage obligations

    Malefactors in government like Dodd and Barney got little compensation for the chaos and damage they created. Dodd got a preferred mortgage from Angelo Mozilo. Franklin Raines got 90 million which was quite a score and worthy of Wall St. Jamie Gorelick and others got tens of millions in compensation from Fanny and Freddy

  • http://www.thomasewoods.com woods

    I prefer not to start a long thread on this topic under a blog post on something else, but just very quickly: it’s the present system that makes these shenanigans possible. So it’s hard to say it’s X% this, X% that. It’s a symbiotic relationship. Under a sound and sane banking system, we would never have seen this insanity. Moreover, without a Fed to create the housing bubble in the first place, then if securitization existed at all, the resulting securities would not rise and fall nearly so sharply, which is the problem.

  • http://angloaustria.blogspot.com Jack Maturin

    Hi Tom,

    Well done on getting the book out so quickly. Here’s my attempt to plug the monkey:

    => http://angloaustria.blogspot.com/2009/02/have-you-ordered-your-copy-yet.html

    Rgds,
    JackM

  • http://lifeandhardtimesfreepress.blogspot.com Michael Morrison

    In a free system, of course there still might be crooks.
    The difference is, in a free system crookedness is not institutionalized; crookedness is recognized as crookedness, not just political connectedness.
    And we can hope it is the crooks themselves who will be institutionalized.
    Keep up your very important work, Dr. Woods.

  • margaret

    I just read Meltdown. I always knew it was the Government goofing up the economy. I just didn’t understand all the details on how it worked. Now I do. Thank You. I will share my copy of Meltdown with friends and family to spread the word. But what do you suggest to individuals on how to survive this upcoming mess? We don’t have the power to change the government, but just surviving and not losing what we have will be tough. Margaret

  • John Heinbockel

    just finished murray rothbard’s history of the great depression. highly worth reading–great job going through cycle theory and all the “enlightened” clap-trap that hoover & later roosevelt foisted on us. also great at pointing fingers at the real culprits–FED ez credit/inflation. I can’t wait to read yours.

  • http://michaelmcmahonnavan@yahoo.ie McMahon Michael

    I wish to thank Thomas Woods for a superb analysis of the Depression of 1920.
    As a financial advisor based here in Ireland I am amazed that nobody with responsibility for economic planning either here in Ireland,UK or indeed America had studied the work of Ludwig Von Mises,Joseph Schumpeter, Hyman Minsky or the great Russian economist Nicholai Kondratieff.
    Michael McMahon
    Navan
    Ireland