WHEELING, WV, Oct. 10, 2008 - Edward W. Younkins, professor of accountancy, has written a new book entitled Champions of a Free Society: Ideas of Capitalism's Philosophers and Economists.

Younkins is also the university's director of its Master of Business Administration (MBA) and Master of Science in Accountancy (MSA) programs. In addition, he serves as the executive director of WJU's Institute for the Study of Capitalism and Morality.

In contrast to, Dr. Younkins' 2002 book, Capitalism and Commerce, which was organized around the concepts and moral values upon which a free society is built, Champions of a Free Society is constructed around great thinkers of the past and present who have been influential in developing the political and economic thought of the Western world.

Its main purpose is to provide a survey and overview of the ideas of leading individual philosophers and economists of freedom. Younkins' latest book is designed to make clear the principal theoretical ideas of a wide array of these outstanding thinkers. It provides a guide to political and economic thinking about the desirability and construction of a free society that is intelligible to the educated layperson.

“The book represents a serious but accessible introduction to the ideas of the great philosophers and economists who sowed the seeds of liberty, the harvest of which we reap the benefits of today,” the author stated recently.

Reviews of the book have been favorable:

According to Larry Sechrest of Sul Ross State University, Texas:

“Ed Younkins has here created an invaluable resource for the interested layman: an eminently readable, largely non-technical survey of influential free-market thinkers. This is a masterful summary of 2,500 years of libertarian and classical liberal thought, from Lao Tzu to Aristotle to Locke to Rand, Mises, and Rothbard. Best of all, the presentation is not narrowly 'economic.” Open this book and you will open your mind to the glory of human flourishing.”

Jerry Kirkpatrick of California State Polytechnic University adds:

“Champions of a Free Society is a compelling story of the evolution and development of liberalism's foundational ideas. In effortlessly readable prose, the author capsulizes the philosophic and economic views of twenty writers on liberty. He handles with ease and understanding the most difficult concepts of metaphysics and epistemology, as well as ethics, political philosophy, and economics. An eye-opening overview concentrated in just a few hundred pages.”

This book is organized around great thinkers of the past and the chapters are arranged chronologically, tracing the development of political and economic thought from antiquity to the present time.

A chronological arrangement of the great thinkers has been followed in order to elucidate the evolutionary process in political and economic thinking as ideas blend into one another.

“These thinkers have sought to answer questions dealing with the nature of man, the purpose and justification of the political power of the state, and the relationship between government authority and individual freedom,” Younkins explained recently. “This book thus considers the history of man as the evolved and involved story of the idea of freedom.”

After an introduction, the book is divided into the following five sections: (1) Ancient and Medieval Periods; (2) Early Modern and Renaissance Periods; (3) The Late Modern Period; (4) The Contemporary Period; and (5) The Philosophy of Freedom: In Retrospect and Prospect. Whereas Capitalism and Commerce supplied a “bank” of fundamental ideas that provide the groundwork for the free enterprise system, Champions of a Free Society provides a “bank” of the essential ideas of the great thinkers who developed those ideas. Sections 1 through 4 of this work essentially constitute a handbook of their fundamental ideas. The final section of the book provides a summary of the preceding chapters and looks to the future and toward the potential integration of the ideas of past and current thinkers into a logical and systematic worldview.

Walter Block of Loyola University, New Orleans has observed that:

“Champions of a Free Society is a tour de force of the libertarian and classical liberal movements. Dig into any of these chapters, better yet, all of them, and see a masterfully told story of the history of liberty from days gone by to the modern era.”

The author of numerous articles in accounting and business journals, Younkins' free-market-oriented articles and reviews have appeared in many publications. Last year (2007) he edited “Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged: A Philosophical and Literary Companion.”

The book is available through the publisher, Lexington Books or online at amazon.com or barnesandnoble.com.