June 3, 2013 12:43PM # George Smith’s Long-Awaited Book: The System of Liberty By [David Boaz](https://www.cato.org/people/david-boaz) --- SHARE ![The System of Liberty](/sites/cato.org/files/styles/pubs_2x/public/wp-content/uploads/the_system_of_liberty.jpg?itok=ufqQ6P4_) George H. Smith is one of the best-read, most insightful libertarians living today. He is the author of most of the Cato University Home Study Course, [which you should definitely download](https://www.cato.org/cato-university/home-study-course). He writes a weekly article for Lib​er​tar​i​an​ism​.org titled “Excursions into the History of Libertarian Thought.” He is the author of *Atheism: The Case Against God* (1974), *Atheism, Ayn Rand, and Other Heresies* (1991), and audio series on “Great Political Thinkers,” “The Meaning of the U.S. Constitution,” and “The Ideas of Liberty.” And finally — *finally* — he has been persuaded to write down much of what he knows about the history of classical liberal thought in [a new book](http://store.cato.org/books/system-liberty-themes-history-classical-liberalism-paperback) from the Cato Institute and the Cambridge University Press, *The System of Liberty: Themes in the History of Classical Liberalism*. It’s a great study of classical liberalism and the relations among such liberal ideas as individualism, natural rights, utilitarianism, self-sovereignty, and what Lord Acton called “the polar star of liberty.” Along the way he answers such criticisms of liberalism as “atomistic individualism” and “social Darwinism.” It’s a college course in political philosophy in just 217 very readable pages. Buy it now for the low low price of $24.95. [![Creative Commons License](/build/cato_2020/images/creative-commons.svg)](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/) This work is licensed under a [Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/).