Uploaded August 2016 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
A Short History of Man: Progress and Decline represents nothing less than a sweeping revisionist history of mankind, in a concise and readable volume. Hans-Hermann Hoppe skillfully weaves history, sociology, ethics, and Misesian praxeology to present an alternative --and highly challenging — view of human economic development over the ages.
As always, Hoppe addresses the fundamental questions as only he can. How do family and social bonds develop? Why is the concept of private property so vitally important to human flourishing? What made the leap from a Malthusian subsistence society to an industrial society possible? How did we devolve from aristocracy to monarchy to social democratic welfare states? And how did modern central governments become the all-powerful rulers over nearly every aspect of our lives?
Hoppe examines and answers all of these often thorny questions without resorting to platitudes or bowdlerized history. This is Hoppe at his best: calmly and methodically skewering sacred cows.
This is the complete audiobook version of A Short History of Man. The free PDF can be found at the Mises Institute website: mises.org/library/short-history-man-progress-and-decline
Thanks for watching and remember to give a Thumbs Up and Subscribe!
A Short History of Man: Progress and Decline represents nothing less than a sweeping revisionist history of mankind, in a concise and readable volume. Hans-Hermann Hoppe skillfully weaves history, sociology, ethics, and Misesian praxeology to present an alternative --and highly challenging — view of human economic development over the ages.
As always, Hoppe addresses the fundamental questions as only he can. How do family and social bonds develop? Why is the concept of private property so vitally important to human flourishing? What made the leap from a Malthusian subsistence society to an industrial society possible? How did we devolve from aristocracy to monarchy to social democratic welfare states? And how did modern central governments become the all-powerful rulers over nearly every aspect of our lives?
Hoppe examines and answers all of these often thorny questions without resorting to platitudes or bowdlerized history. This is Hoppe at his best: calmly and methodically skewering sacred cows.
This is the complete audiobook version of A Short History of Man. The free PDF can be found at the Mises Institute website: mises.org/library/short-history-man-progress-and-decline
Thanks for watching and remember to give a Thumbs Up and Subscribe!


![Debunking The Most Dangerous Superstition 2/4
This episode is an interview with Larken Rose titled “Government – The Fallacy of Ad Verecundiam, pt. 1” and was recorded on February 4, 2012.
What does it mean to have a leader, or government? Does government protect our freedoms, or are they the very cause of our enslavement? And what does it mean to vote? Does voting give us freedoms that we otherwise might not have?
What if the idea of government was nothing but a religious myth, created by criminals and followed by billions of mindless zombie zealots the world over – just as any other dogma? What would happen if one day, just all of a sudden, everyone stopped believing in government?
Today we’ll be discussing what it means to believe in government. Is government real, or a figment of your collective, religious imagination? Does not voting mean that we’d be sitting around like a bunch of lazy couch potatoes doing nothing? Or, if we use critical thinking, is it really our first course of action to disempower the criminals whom we call politicians? Is voting the only way to effect change? Or is it in reality one of the least effective ways to effect change and gain freedom? And what does it mean to live in a democratic (or “mob-ruled”) society, anyway?
Today we question some of our most firmly held governmental religious myths as we continue this investigation on the myth of government, exposing government as the fallacy of “ad verecundiam”.
It is time to grow up. The time is now to stop having mommy and daddy government tell us what we want, and what we can or can’t do, say, eat, or what drugs we can take. Today we begin acting as adults, making our own decisions – rejecting the fallacy of appeal to authority, or ad verecundiam.
Larken Rose is known for debunking the most dangerous superstition, Government. He is a Voluntaryist/Anarchist and a tax protester, as well as an author of several books. Larken promotes the concepts of self-ownership and a voluntary society, writing articles, giving talks and making videos available at his website; http://www.LarkenRose.com
To see more of Larkens great videos, visit his YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/LarkenRose
Gnostic Media is open-source, independent media that pulls you outside of the box and into the heart of cognizance itself. Here the word ‘gnostic’ pertains to knowledge and not necessarily dogmatic ‘Gnostic’ teachings. The word gnostic has its origins in the word ‘knowledge’ or ‘to know’ [a. Gr. γνῶσις investigation, knowledge, f. γνω- root of γιγνώσκειν to know.].
Topics of investigation include: education and the 7 liberal arts (the trivium and quadrivium), the mystery schools, mythology, theology, shamanism, entheogens, archaeoastronomy, politics, economics, and much more.
By bringing together leading academic and independent scholars (from their respective fields) and providing them a platform to present their ideas and research in full, the idea is to facilitate and deepen understanding in these related fields – not only for the listening audience – but for everyone involved.
This is a powerful, one-of-a-kind show, so sit back and relax as we take you on a journey to the deepest recesses of your soul.
Jan Irvin of https://www.GnosticMedia.com is an independent researcher, author and lecturer in ancient and modern religious practices. Debunking The Most Dangerous Superstition 2/4](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/Xmq0WMRIRqU/mqdefault.jpg)







