Rating: 
Summary: A revelation
Review: Bethell takes as his subject one of the oldest controversies known to man -- the issue of property rights -- and weaves together a lucid, interesting, and convincing case that stable property rights are the necessary antecedent for prosperity and progress. He describes his thesis as, "When property is privatized, and the rule of law is established, in such a way that all including the rulers themselves are subject to the same law, economies will prosper and civilization will blossom." To prove it, he discusses a wide range of historical examples. I was particularly intrigued by his discussion of the communities that have attempted to live peaceably without property rights; all have failed.The issue of property rights is foundational to virtually every public policy discussion. If you have any interest in politics or policy, read this book.
Rating: 
Summary: Silent about original aquisition!
Review: Honestly, I read this book about a year and a half ago. Since, though, I've reread several sections of it. Bethell gives a fascinating account of the history of market, and not-so-marketlike, ideas. Yes, this book is a polemic of sorts and Bethell provides a few chapters explaining (very well) market theories like the tragedy of the commons and even explaining Marx fairly accurately. So the book DOES have a bias, but the research and statements within are very accurate. The two chapters that stood out to me were one near the beginning, showing us how America originated as a quasi-capitalist system of personal icentive. Second, and most interesting of all, was a full chapter devoted to the entirely strange story of Robert Owen and his New Melody utopia. Long and short, Owen was a millionare turned socialist (notice its only the very rich and very poor that are socialists?) who lost his bankrole on a bizzare utopian scheme, wherein he bought land in the U.S., got volunteers, and lost it all some years later because the workmen turned lazy. The reason I highlight this chapter is because as important as the facts of New Melody are, they are seldom collected in book form (at least not ones in print). Here, Bethell devotes AN ENTIRE CHAPTER to the catastrophe. Buy this book, if only for that. Still, even without that chapter, this book is a goody. Marx and Mill are discussed, the soviet union experiment, even contemporary issues like property and the environment, and intellectual property rights are discussed. Overall, a good book that will get the unconvinced thinking and get the convinced even more convinced. Convinced?
Rating: 
Summary: Compelling Argument
Review: It was Locke's argument, I believe, that freedom is the fence around our property. Without freedom, property is worthless. Bethel's argument is, without property, there is no freedom. One of the more remarkable arguments in the book is that the tremendous early success of the British economy rested to a large degree on the security of property. In no other country were property rights as secure or as fiercely defended. Yet the neglect of property by nearly all economists and historians is due in part to the very centrality of property. He remarks that Mill took out the chapter on property in his economics testbook at the urging of his socialist wife, and after that the topic of property entirely disappeared from economics. Bethel makes the entirely convincing argument that in fact the security of property, in developing countries, is the most reliable predictor of success. He tells a heartbreaking story about the redistribution of land in Iran during the Shah's rule. The Americans had suggested that the Shah conduct land reform to weaken the power of the large landlords. The land was redistributed to small landowners. Some small American entrepreneurs also came in and bought some land and started to build successful companies employing hundreds of people. Then the Americans had the bright idea to reappropriate the land, subsidize the development through AID, and get large American companies involved. Individual enterprise disappeared and the policy became a de facto jobs program. The land was of course reappropriated under the mullahs. Moral of the story? If you can just take it away and give it to somebody else, what is to stop somebody from doing it again?
Rating:
Summary: An Outstanding Defense of the Obvious
Review: Mr. Bethell's book is the latest in a needed defense of the system of private property. It is the LAWS of the western nations which enabled the industrial revolution and the continuing technological advances that lead the world. Mr. Bethell points out that it is the most advanced nations that have stanched environmental polution and it is the third world, without laws to protect private property, especially real estate, that has been the most guilty of destroying the gifts of nature. The need to defend private property became evident 150 years ago with the _Communist Manifesto_, but economists an jurists, up until recently, have taken the instution for granted. With the advance of the progressive movement it became a "lock step" ideology to tear down private property rights. But with the advent of new technological trends and intellectual properties the subject of private property has taken a new light. One of Mr. Bethell's best examples is to equate the Northern Spotted Owl with gold. The solution to this diminishing species is to make it a very valuable asset to one's property not to make it a dangerous intruder on property with the ability of making it worthless. The environmental community has it all wrong. Public ownership of property generates the "Tragedy of the Commons". I know. I live next to the Forest Service, the worst next door neighbor imaginable.
Rating:
Summary: Silent about original aquisition!
Review: Silent about original acquisition!
This book, which purports to be about property rights, is strangely silent about the concept of original acquisition. That is, the right to property is based by the method by which it was originally received. A simple example, if the property was stolen or it the original deed is false then the property is rightly not yours.
John Locke had something to say about this but that was a long time ago.
But in this book, the author is silent. And for good reason, for if he did discuss it, the topic would be embarrassing for North Americans for they would have to transfer land back to those they had stolen it from - i.e. the Native Americans.
In total, while I can agree the owning property is a good thing, it is only good when it has been acquired by the proper methods. But in North America it was stolen.
One star for dishonestly.
Rating:
Summary: A Triumph Indeed
Review: The Noblest Triumph is quite simply one of the most powerful, enjoyable nonfiction books I have read in quite some time. Mr. Bethell's account is exhaustively researched (including tracking the evolution of ideas through multiple printings of some of the classic texts)and presents a forceful case for the primacy of private property and the evolution of property rights through the ages. He demonstrates why many of the freedoms we cherish are either sharply curtailed if not eliminated outright if property rights are not adequately protected. His analysis provides insight into many economic and sociological events which on their surface may appear irrational, but in fact represent the "best" course of action given the lack of property rights. This book should be required reading for anyone who believes that the government (or more properly public ownership) is always or even often the best solution to today's problems. In particular, environmentalists should read Mr. Bethell's thoughts very closely. Mr. Bethell has written a thought-provoking, well researched powerful book that makes what could have been a very boring topic come to life.
Rating:
Summary: A Triumph Indeed
Review: The Noblest Triumph is quite simply one of the most powerful, enjoyable nonfiction books I have read in quite some time. Mr. Bethell's account is exhaustively researched (including tracking the evolution of ideas through multiple printings of some of the classic texts)and presents a forceful case for the primacy of private property and the evolution of property rights through the ages. He demonstrates why many of the freedoms we cherish are either sharply curtailed if not eliminated outright if property rights are not adequately protected. His analysis provides insight into many economic and sociological events which on their surface may appear irrational, but in fact represent the "best" course of action given the lack of property rights. This book should be required reading for anyone who believes that the government (or more properly public ownership) is always or even often the best solution to today's problems. In particular, environmentalists should read Mr. Bethell's thoughts very closely. Mr. Bethell has written a thought-provoking, well researched powerful book that makes what could have been a very boring topic come to life.
Rating:
Summary: Good companion book
Review: This book focuses on the issue of Private Property, a concept that rarely recieves attention, even in pro-capitalist literature. That is the book's strength, a solid summary on the negatives of public ownership and the liberty that flows from private property. "Where private property is nonexistent, selfishness has free reign."
If there is a negative, it is that the book jumps around a bit. There are other books that I think do as good of a job (if not better stylistically) of addressing the failures of socialism (Re: Heaven on Earth by Muravchik) and there are other books that provide a positive prescription for world poverty via private property (Mystery of Capital by DeSoto). This book straddles those two, overlaps them, and thus is a fine companion piece.
Rating:
Summary: A Triumph of Reason
Review: This is a phenomenal book that deserves to be read by all who aspire to understand the framework upon which affluence is built. Bethell's insights are incisive and spot on. I cannot recommend this book highly enough.
Rating:
Summary: Superior in all respects
Review: This title deserves a place near the top of the list of books about markets, prosperity, property rights, and even history. The superior writing makes is pleasantly accessible to the intelligent non-expert. It requires no special knowledge of economics, just an interest in why societies prosper . . . and often don't.
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