Brian Doherty, Historian of the Libertarian Movement, Dead at 57

Doherty's other book-length treatments of libertarian phenomena included Gun Control on Trial: Inside the Supreme Court Battle Over the Second Amendment (2008), Ron Paul's rEVOLution: The Man and the Movement He Inspired (2012), and Modern Libertarianism: A Brief History of Classical Liberalism in the United States (2025). "One of the specific purposes of that work, according to Wilson, was to do to the state what Voltaire did to the church—that is, reduce it to an object of contempt for all thoughtful people," he recalled in 2018. While majoring in journalism at the University of Florida, Doherty "met some congenial and hilarious people manning a booth for the…College Libertarians in the autumn of 1987," and was off to the races, mixing intense philosophical curiosity with an equally deep interest and participation in the more animal spirits of DIY music and expressive freedom.

Author: Matt Welch

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