Libertarians of the World, Unite! ...

Seize hold of your self-respect. Actually, it's too late. The results of the plebiscite are in. David Bernstein at the Volokh Conspiracy points out that preliminary voting on Liberty Books' Spooner Award for the best book on liberty published in 2003 has resulted in four finalists: Bernstein, You Can't Say That, James Bovard, Terrorism and Tyranny, Charles Murray, Human Accomplishment, and John Lott, Against Guns. Even after Tim Lambert's painstaking work, Lott, you say? How many times did Mary Rosh vote? Yes, and Against Guns edged out some fine books, including Anne Applebaum's Gulag: A History and George Crile's Charlie Wilson's War. A jury will decide the final winner of the Spooner Award and, perhaps, salvage some self-respect for the libertarians.

By the way, I heard Bernstein give a talk at Emory last night on freedom of speech in academic communities. The National Association of Scholars sponsored the event on a campus where free speech issues still create considerable tension. That link takes you to Erin O'Connor's Critical Mass, where she reproduces a letter by my colleague here at Cliopatria, KC Johnson. KC urges an Emory administrator to respect the necessity of intellectual diversity in order for a campus to experience healthy debate.