Lysander Spooner: American Anarchist.

• Author: Knowles, Helen J.
• Position: Book review

Lysander Spooner: American Anarchist

By Steve J. Shone

Lanham, Md.: Lexington, 2010.

Pp. 138. $55.00 cloth.

Individuals who want to learn about the relationship between libertarianism and the law will benefit immensely by simply reading the writings of Lysander Spooner (1808-87). In the introduction to Lysander Spooner: American Anarchist, political scientist Steve Shone eschews this approach, however, in favor of analyzing Spooner's works using "the various categorizations prized by political philosophers" (p. xii). Unfortunately, at slightly more than one hundred pages, Shone's book does not do analytical justice to Spooner's lifetime of work. That work has much of importance to tell us; Shone's does not.

The problems that beset the book begin with its title. The work that Spooner produced in the last two decades of his life is routinely labeled anarchical; indeed, in the 1870s and 1880s he was held in high regard by many Americans who aligned themselves with anarchist movements--such as Benjamin R. Tucker, who considered Spooner one of his mentors. It is rare, however, to find scholars arguing that his earlier essays and legal treatises (which he produced over the course of four decades, beginning in 1834) were underpinned by principles commonly understood as anarchical--libertarian, yes, but anarchical, no. In this respect, Shone sought to break new ground in his book, arguing that anarchical is a suitable appellation for the entirety of Spooner's works. Unfortunately, nowhere does he provide us with his definition of anarchism. We are told that Spooner was an American Anarchist (Shone purposefully capitalizes both words), which means that he was a "bearer ... of a distinctive ideology that calls into question the routine left-right scheme of classification" (p. xiii). But this statement is hopelessly vague. It might as easily be applied to libertarianism, and it is also an appropriate way to describe the voting patterns of ticket-splitting independents. Shone clearly does not want us to identify Spooner as someone whose views aligned with the stereotypical "bomb-throwing" anarchists. However, absent a detailed description of the American Anarchism of which Spooner was supposed to be a follower (and perhaps a leader), this conclusion is exactly the one that Shone's book will encourage people to reach.

This aspect of the book is troubling because although interest in Spooner has increased in recent years, it has not always increased...