New audio recording of individualist classic -- Max Stirner, whose radical defense of liberty provoked a 300-page outburst from Karl Marx THE EGO AND HIS OWN: The Case of the Individual Against Authority by Max Stirner, translated by Steven Byington, read by Jeff Riggenbach, introduction by James S. Martin (reviewed by Jim Powell) Few Americans seem to know much about the great German individualist Johann Caspar Schmidt (1806-1856), who wrote under the pseudonym Max Stirner, in part because his work is almost impossible to find here. Stirner taught history, wrote essays about education, translated works by Adam Smith and J.B. Say into German and produced this radical case for individualism. First published in 1845, _The Ego and His Own_ isn't elegantly written like John Stuart Mill's famous _On Liberty_, but Stirner based his case on bedrock principle. Whereas Mill urged that individuality should be tolerated because of potential usefulness -- you never know who will contribute to society -- Stirner insisted that individuals have rights because they are human beings, regardless what they might contribute. He attacked any doctrine which subordinates individuals to a powerful authority. "Every State is a despotism, be the despot one or many," he declared. Stirner's opponents dismissed his views as selfishness, but he observed that individualism is hated because it makes individuals sovereign and seeks strict limits on government power: "The own will of Me is the State's destroyer; it is therefore branded by the State as 'self will.'" Stirner displayed awesome insight when he attacked communism, then in its infancy: "loudly as it always attacks the 'State', what it intends is itself again a State ... a sovereign power over me." Well, Karl Marx recognized that individualism, especially an uncompromising free spirit like Stirner, was an arch-enemy of his frenzied collectivism. Within a year after _The Ego and His Own_ appeared, Marx wrote _The German Ideology_, 300 pages of vicious bombast aimed mainly at Stirner. It's hard to imagine a more impressive compliment for a friend of freedom. Stirner's master work is still hard to find, but Laissez Faire Books arranged for this thoughtful reading of the complete text by noted national broadcaster Jeff Riggenbach. He displays a firm, pleasing command of Stirner's provocative ideas. In a vinyl binder. LI6170 (10 audiotapes, 14.5 hours) $49.95