Best short 'intro to libertarianism' resource

[Rayne]

Over lunch with a close friend today I mentioned that I am now, decidedly, a libertarian and my friend showed genuine interest in learning more.  She said she was open to me sending her some material.  It has taken me so long to get here (hundreds of hours in podcasts, reading, and thinking) that I can't think of one source that can sum it up in a convincing way.  Does anyone have a suggestion of a podcast/YouTube video or article that I should send her?  

 

She is coming from a dissatisfaction with the Right-Left, Democrat-Republican paradigm.  She is an agnostic,an upperclass suburban mom of a toddler, a watcher of Good Morning America, and her and her husband have season tickets to the Seahawks.  I am wary of coming on too strong against mainstream America because it could be taken as personally insulting.     

 

 

[Flake]

I haven't gotten around to reading this book, others have praised it highly, and it appears to be the least controversial when it comes to books making the case for Libertarianism. So it is what I recommend. No articles, podcasts, or YouTube videos I have come across have effectively and persuasively made the case for Libertarianism. Some have been persuasive on a particular issue but not Libertarianism as a whole. Again, I recommend you read some of the book, then decide if you want to give it to her.

[Alan C.]

The Law by Frederic Bastiat transformed me from Republican to libertarian almost overnight.

[LaissezFaire]

For a good survey of libertarian intellectual history and its various traditions in America, which will give her an idea of which authors she might want to read and what they were about, can be found in Brian Doherty's excellent Radicals for Capitalism.

 

Robert P. Murphy's Chaos Theory is a clear outline of Rothbardian anarcho-capitalist legal and practical theory in a small package.