Acknowledgments

These lectures, delivered by Ludwig von Mises at the Foundation for Economic Education in the summer of 1951, would not exist if not for Bettina Bien Greaves, who took them down word for word in shorthand, and who kindly made the transcriptions available to FEE. Mrs. Greaves served as a senior staff member at the Foundation for almost 50 years, until her retirement in 1999. She and her late husband, Percy L. Greaves, Jr., were among Mises’s closest friends. Her appreciation and understanding of Mises’s works have helped keep his legacy alive for a new generation of friends of freedom.

The publication of these lectures has been made possible through the kind generosity of Mr. Sheldon Rose of Farmington Hills, Michigan, and the Richard E. Fox Foundation of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and the especially the unstinting support of the Fox Foundation’s senior executor, Mr. Michael Pivarnik.

Mrs. Beth Hoffman, managing editor of FEE’s monthly publication, The Freeman, has overseen the preparation of the manuscript from beginning to end with her usual professional care.