Libertarian Literary and Media Criticism

“Libertarian Literary and Media Criticism is a welcome addition to a field long starved for alternatives to Marxist approaches. … It is heartening to see that Paul Cantor’s scholarship has continued to inspire and inform scholars across disciplinary boundaries and attract them to literary and media criticism. It is to be hoped that this volume will help inaugurate a new trend of market-friendly analysis in this area.” (Jason Jewell, Journal of Libertarian Studies, Vol. 29 (1), 2025)

“The essays gathered in this volume celebrate his achievements and make libertarian literary and media criticism accessible to a wide audience. This superb volume is essential reading for anyone interested in how literature and film can illuminate the principles that enable human flourishing.” (Caroline Breashears, libertarianism.org, August 25, 2025)

“With Libertarian Literary and Media Criticism: Essays in Memory of Paul A. Cantor, Jo Ann Cavallo has achieved something increasingly rare in our splintered intellectual landscape … The reader who approaches Libertarian Literary and Media Criticism expecting either elementary economic cheerleading or literary dilettantism will be disappointed. What Cavallo has gathered instead is something better: genuine intellectual adventure—the kind that enlarges … our understanding. In an age of ideological calcification, such work is at once dangerous, necessary, and irreplaceable.” (Allen Mendenhall, Quarterly Journal of Austrian Economics, Vol. 28 (3), October, 2025)

“The essays is an extended argument for why Cantor’s approach is not just important, but portable; young scholars can use this approach to ensure their own scholarly flourishing and success.” (Michael C. Munger, The Independent Review, Vol. 30 (2), 2025)

“Many of the great stories take on renewed life—Shakespeare’s plays, especially, but also Jonson’s Alchemist, Tolstoy’s War and Peace, Pinocchio, H. G. Wells’ War of the Worlds (which gets a rather sinister undertone of the Technostate), and even, with astonishing effrontery, Hesse’s Siddhartha. Likewise, pop culture gets rousing re-readings … . Libertarian Literary and Media Criticism may be the seed of a more liberal and humane movement in literary and humanistic studies.” (Frederick Turner, Cosmos and Taxis, cosmosandtaxis.org, Vol. 13 (7-8), 2025) 

“My deepest gratitude to Jo Ann Cavallo for bringing this collection to my attention. I heartily recommend it to my readers!” (Chris Matthew Sciabarra, Notablog, notablog.net, May 16, 2025)