Harry Browne - Books and Views

Books and Views

He came into prominence in 1970 with his first book, How You Can Profit From The Coming Devaluation, which correctly predicted the devaluation of the dollar and subsequent inflation. The book helped many Americans survive, and some even profit, during the 1970s. It also introduced millions of people to the Austrian school of economics regarding the dangers fiat currency poses to liberty and prosperity. According to Texas Republican Congressman Dr. Ron Paul in his "A Tribute to the Late Harry Browne" which was read into the Congressional Record in 2006, "How You Can Profit From the Coming Devaluation is generally recognized as the founding document of the hard money movement, which combined the insights of the Austrian economists with a practical investment strategy."

Browne's second book in 1973, How I Found Freedom in an Unfree World, focused on maximizing personal liberty and showed how to use libertarian principles to make your life much freer right now. It presented a unique libertarian view of morality, government, society, and human nature. Part I identifies the mental traps that are so easy to fall into – traps that prevent you from being as free as you could be. Part II provides specific techniques you can use today to obtain greater freedom from government, from societal restrictions, and from business, personal, and family problems. Part III shows how to make necessary changes to a freer life right now. Over the years this book became a classic handbook for personal liberty. Some politically active libertarians objected to his attitude of non-participation in politics, an attitude he himself changed later.

You Can Profit from a Monetary Crisis was Browne's third book and reached #1 on the New York Times bestseller list. He continued to author books and articles on investing through the late 1990s and hosted an Internet radio call-in show. In all, Browne wrote 13 books and sold 2 million copies of his books.

Browne's books are popular with libertarians, hard money proponents, and survivalists.

Browne also authored books and gave lectures on actively living a Libertarian lifestyle. His book How I Found Freedom in an Unfree World gave a detailed explanation of how one can bring Libertarian concepts to every aspect of your life. His posthumously released 1960s lecture series, "The Art of Profitable Living," was released as a 20-CD album titled, "Rule Your World."

He suggested that people think about structuring their lives in a way that would allow them freedom from social, economic, moral, and psychological entanglements. In the social sphere he taught about what he called the "identity trap" in which a person expects of others and themselves what is not in their nature. Instead, he taught how one should recognize one's nature and the nature of others, and then maximize the benefit that is there in reality, rather than wasting one's life trying to change oneself and others.

Browne pointed out a dozen or so "traps" and then gave a detailed explanation of how one can break out of these traps. He suggested that you put values on all things, like what is the price it would take to remove a "trap", and ask yourself if it is worth that cost; putting values on all things from relationships to one's own worth as a friend, consumer, producer, becomes very valuable in making perfect sense of a complex world.