• "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

Successful Civilizations and Successful People Share This Trait

Willingness to delay gratification. Courtesy of Gary North, check out this experiment involving children who were told they could eat one marshmallow now or two in a little while. The differences between these children later in life are astonishing. (The same phenomenon applies to civilizations, as Hans Hoppe has noted.)

Unlearn the Propaganda!

  • http://TheInterventionistParadox.wordpress.com/ Bharat

    WOW he stopped himself from eating that marshmallow at the end for 12 seconds. I’m rather jealous, he beat my record =/

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Zebram-Zee/100002539017006 Zebram Zee

    This is a pretty interesting experiment. I think sometimes people take implications from this that aren’t completely accurate. the experiment isn’t about morals, it’s about delaying gratification so you can actually get more later.

    I vote that Dr. Woods does another experiment with his kids that will test morality rather than delaying gratification:
    1. Woods puts a marshmallow on a plate in front of his children.
    2. He tells them that these marshmallows were made through slavery. He tells them its their choice to eat it or not. If they decide not to eat it, they don’t get any marshmallows. In fact they will actually not have any TV for a week if they don’t eat it.
    3. Woods leaves the room for 10 minutes.
    4. Woods comes back and records the results.

    Click the Like button if you want Woods to conduct this experiment!

  • Art

    Free will is an intellectual error.
    Even Mises was not above committing it.

  • Anonymous

    The kids who wouldn’t wait for the marshmallow won’t finish this guy’s book either.

  • http://www.3rdWAVElandsProperties.net/ Joe Winpisinger

    I think we all struggle with this. I know I do. How do we overcome it?

  • http://www.3rdWAVElandsProperties.net/ Joe Winpisinger

    Are you saying that you do not believe in free will?

  • Anonymous

    this is the same theory that would lead to a deflationary spiral and crash any civilized economy.

    one now, or wait and get two for the price of one.

  • Anonymous

    I’ve also struggled with it, but the web is a wonderful innovation in this regard. So what if I rarely read everything on a page before following a link to another one? That’s the whole idea of the web. Now, my attention deficit disorder is not a bug. It’s a feature.

  • http://www.TomWoods.com Tom Woods

    You must be joking, right? It is the consume-now mentality, on the contrary, that would fail to maintain the capital structure and return us to barbarism.

  • Anonymous