In terms of content, as usual, it is extremely heavy on books written in the 18th century or earlier, perhaps somewhat more so this past year than in previous ones. I count only 20 books written in the 20th century or later, along with a smattering of 19th-century works.
Two notable things about this year's list are that there is more fiction than usual (Defoe, Dostoyevsky, Sterne, Smollett, and Swift), and that there is a large amount of English legal history. The latter is a predictable result of research I have been doing for a paper. Regarding Dostoyevsky, I will likely never read another Russian novel again, but I am proud of having managed to finish Crime and Punishment, which delivered precisely what its title promised, at least in terms of the reading experience.
I will take this opportunity to admit that The Spectacled Avenger has been more neglected that usual this past year. Without issuing an ironclad New Year’s resolution, it is my hope to do better in 2015.
Without more ado, here is the list (as in previous years, bolded items represent books I particularly enjoyed).
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ADDISON, Joseph and Richard STEELE. The Spectator (Vol. V). Edinburgh: J. and J. Ruthven, 1809.
AURELIUS, Marcus. The Meditations of the Emperor Marcus Aurelius Antoninus. Francis Hutcheson and James Moor (trans.). Indianapolis: Liberty Fund, 2008.
BLACKSTONE, William. Commentaries on the Laws of England (Vol. II). Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1766 (facsimile, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1979).
BLACKSTONE, William. Commentaries on the Laws of England (Vol. III). Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1766 (facsimile, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1979).
BURKE, Edmund. Further Reflections on the Revolution in France. Daniel E. Ritchie (ed.). Indianapolis: Liberty Fund, 1992.
BURKE, Edmund. Select Works (Vol. IV: Miscellaneous Writings). Indianapolis: Liberty Fund, 1999.
CAENEGEM, R. C. van. The Birth of the English Common Law (2nd Edition). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1988.
CHAUCER, Geoffrey. Canterbury Tales. A. C. Cawley (ed.). New York: Everyman's Library, 1992.
CLARE, John. The Shepherd’s Calendar. Eric Robinson (ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014.
CLARENDON, Edward Hyde, Earl of. The History of the Rebellion and Civil Wars in England (Volume III, Part I). Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1816.
COHEN, Warren I. The Cambridge History of American Foreign Relations, Vol. IV: America in the Age of Soviet Power, 1945-1991. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1993.
COKE, Sir Edward. The Selected Writings and Speeches of Sir Edward Coke (Vol. II). Steve Sheppard (ed.). Indianapolis: Liberty Fund, 2003.
DEFOE, Daniel. The Fortunes and Misfortunes of the Famous Moll Flanders. London: W. Chetwood et al., 1722 (facsimile, Menston, UK: Scolar Press, 1970).
DIONYSIUS OF HALICARNASSUS. Roman Antiquities (Vol. V). Earnest Cary (trans.). Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2005.
DOSTOYEVSKY, Fyodor. Crime and Punishment. David McDuff (trans.). London: Penguin Books, 2003.
DROLET, Jean-François. American Neoconservatism: The Politics and Culture of a Reactionary Idealism. New York: Columbia University Press, 2011.
FELLTHAM, Owen. Resolves Divine, Moral, and Political. London: Pickering, 1840.
FINKELSTEIN, Norman G. The Holocaust Industry: Reflections on the Exploitation of Jewish Suffering (2nd edition). London: Verso, 2003.
FRANKLIN, Benjamin. Silence Dogood, The Busy-Body, and Early Writings. New York: Library of America, 2002.
FRASER, Antonia. Cromwell: Our Chief of Men. London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1973.
GODWIN, William. An Enquiry Concerning Political Justice. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013.
GRANT, Michael. The Collapse and Recovery of the Roman Empire. London: Routledge, 1999.
GROTIUS, Hugo. De Jure Belli ac Pacis Libri Tres (Vol. 2: English Translation). Francis W. Kelsey (trans.). Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1925.
HALE, Sir Matthew. The History of the Common Law of England. Charles M. Gray (ed.). Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1971.
HAMBURGER, Philip. Is Administrative Law Unlawful? Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2014.
HAYEK, Friedrich A. Law, Legislation and Liberty (Vol. 1: Rules and Order). Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1973.
HAYEK, Friedrich A. Law, Legislation and Liberty (Vol. 2: The Mirage of Social Justice). Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1976.
HAYEK, Friedrich A. Law, Legislation and Liberty (Vol. 3: The Political Order of a Free People). Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1979.
HOBBES, Thomas. Writings on Common Law and Hereditary Right. Alan Cromartie and Quentin Skinner (eds.). Oxford: Clarendon Press, 2005.
HOWARD, A. E. Dick. Magna Carta: Text and Commentary (revised edition). Charlottesville, VA: University Press of Virginia, 1998.
HUME, David. Essays Moral, Political, and Literary. Eugene F. Miller (ed.). Indianapolis: Liberty Classics, 1987.
HUTCHESON, Francis. Thoughts on Laughter, and Observations on the Fable of the Bees. Glasgow: Robert and Andrew Foulis, 1758 (facsimile, Bristol, UK: Thoemmes, 1989).
HUTCHESON, Francis. An Inquiry into the Original of Our Ideas of Beauty and Virtue. Wolfgang Leidhold (ed.). Indianapolis: Liberty Fund, 2004.
JEFFERSON, Thomas. A Summary View of the Rights of British America. Williamsburg: Clementina Rind, 1774.
JEFFERSON, Thomas. Writings. New York: Library of America, 1984.
KAMES, Henry Home, Lord. Historical Law-Tracts (2nd edition). Edinburgh: A Kincaid and J. Bell, 1761.
KAMES, Henry Home, Lord. Principles of Equity. Michael Lobban (ed.). Indianapolis: Liberty Fund, 2014.
LAWSON, F. H. and Bernard RUDDEN. The Law of Property (2nd edition). Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1982.
LE BILLON, Philippe. Wars of Plunder: Conflicts, Profits and the Politics of Resources. New York: Columbia University Press, 2012.
LEMAY, J. A. Leo. The Life of Benjamin Franklin, Volume 1: Journalist, 1706-1730. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2006.
LOCKE, John. Epistola de Tolerantia: A Letter on Toleration. J. W. Gough (trans.). Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1968.
MAITLAND, F. W. The Forms of Action at Common Law: A Course of Lectures. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1969.
MARSHALL, Alfred. Principles of Economics (8th edition). London: Macmillan, 1959.
MARSHALL, John. The Life of George Washington: Special Edition for Schools. Indianapolis: Liberty Fund, 2000.
MENDRAS, Marie. Russian Politics: The Paradox of a Weak State. New York: Columbia University Press, 2012.
NIETZSCHE, Friedrich. Dawn: Thoughts on the Presumptions of Morality (Complete Works, Vol. 5). Brittain Smith (trans.). Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2011.
NIETZSCHE, Friedrich. Human, All Too Human, I (Complete Works, Vol. 3). Gary Handwerk (trans.). Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1995.
OAKESHOTT, Michael. Morality and Politics in Modern Europe: The Harvard Lectures. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1993.
PARKIN, Charles. The Moral Basis of Burke's Political Thought. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1956.
PIKETTY, Thomas. Capitalism in the Twenty-First Century. Arthur Goldhammer (trans.). Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2014.
PLINY the Younger. The Letters of Pliny the Consul: With Occasional Remarks (Vol. I). William Melmoth (trans.). London: J. Dodsley, 1777.
PLINY the Younger. The Letters of Pliny the Consul: With Occasional Remarks (Vol. II). William Melmoth (trans.). London: J. Dodsley, 1777.
POLLOCK, Sir Frederick and Frederic William MAITLAND. The History of English Law before the Time of Edward I (Vol. II). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1898.
PUFENDORF, Samuel. An Introduction to the History of the Principal Kingdoms and States of Europe. Jodocus Crull (trans.). Indianapolis: Liberty Fund, 2013.
RAMSAY, David. The History of the American Revolution (Vol. I). Lester H. Cohen (ed.). Indianapolis: Liberty Classics, 1990.
RAMSAY, David. The History of the American Revolution (Vol. II). Lester H. Cohen (ed.). Indianapolis: Liberty Classics, 1990.
SENECA, Lucius Annaeus. Moral Essays (Vol. I). John W. Basore (trans.). Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2003.
SHAFTESBURY, Anthony Ashley Cooper, 3rd Earl of. Characteristicks of Men, Manners, Opinions, Times (Vol. I). Indianapolis: Liberty Fund, 2001.
SHAFTESBURY, Anthony Ashley Cooper, 3rd Earl of. Characteristicks of Men, Manners, Opinions, Times (Vol. II). Indianapolis: Liberty Fund, 2001.
SHAFTESBURY, Anthony Ashley Cooper, 3rd Earl of. Characteristicks of Men, Manners, Opinions, Times (Vol. III). Indianapolis: Liberty Fund, 2001.
SHAKESPEARE, William. Romeo and Juliet. Brian Gibbons (ed.). Walton-on-Thames, UK: Thomas Nelson and Sons, 1997.
SIMPSON, A. W. B. An Introduction to the History of the Land Law. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1961.
SMITH, Adam. Lectures on Jurisprudence. R. L. Meek, D. D. Raphael, and P. G. Stein (eds.). Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1978.
SMITH, Richard D. Can't You Hear Me Callin’: The Life and Times of Bill Monroe, Father of Bluegrass. Cambridge, MA: Da Capo Press, 2001.
SMOLLETT, Tobias. The Expedition of Humphry Clinker. Lewis M. Knapp (ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009.
STERNE, Laurence. A Sentimental Journey through France and Italy. London: Oddy and Co., 1806.
SWIFT, Jonathan. Gulliver’s Travels. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999.
THOREAU, Henry David. A Yankee in Canada, with Anti-Slavery and Reform Papers. Boston: Ticknor and Fields, 1866.
TUFTE, Edward R. The Visual Display of Quantitative Information (2nd edition). Cheshire, CT: Graphics Press, 2011.
TUFTE, Edward R. Visual Explanations: Images and Quantities, Evidence and Narrative. Cheshire, CT: Graphics Press, 1997.
TULLOCK, Gordon. Law and Economics (Selected Works, Vol. 9). Indianapolis: Liberty Fund, 2005.
UNITED STATES CONGRESS. Acts Passed at a Congress of the United States of America. New York: Francis Childs and John Swaine, 1789 (facsimile, Kansas City, MO: Andrews McMeel, 2013).
WADDAMS, S. M. et al. Cases and Materials on Contracts (3rd edition). Toronto: Emond Montgomery, 2005.
WALTON, Izaak. The Lives of John Donne, Sir Henry Wotton, Richard Hooker, George Herbert, and Robert Sanderson. London: Oxford University Press, 1962.
WHITE, Morton. Philosophy, The Federalist, and the Constitution. New York: Oxford University Press, 1987.
WIGGINTON, Eliot. The Foxfire Book. New York: Anchor Books, 1972.