Margaret Bateman, Wartime Leader of the Henry George School

by Edward J. Dodson

Some years ago as I was slowly building a biographical history of the Georgist movement, I came across a 24-page book titled Whose World, written in 1944 by Margaret E. Bateman. It was clear to me that she was a knowledgeable follower of Henry George, familiar with many of the leading lights of the Georgist movement around the world. Later, I would learn that the book was published by the Henry George School in New York and that Margaret Bateman then the Director of the school. Continue reading

Henry George and the Crisis of Inequality

by Edward T. O’Donnell, Columbia University Press, 2015. Review by Ed Dodson

Henry George’s life and work have interested a small number of academic historians in each generation since George died in 1897. The latest of these, Professor Edward O’Donnell, succeeds in bringing to life the temper of the times during which Henry George rose from obscurity to become a champion of what he embraced as the true principles of republican democracy. Continue reading

Land: A New Paradigm for a Thriving World

by Martin Adams, 2015, North Atlantic Books. Review by Edward J. Dodson

Twenty years ago I made a decision that has been nearly all-absorbing of my time and energy. I started to compile the documented history of the people who came to embrace the principles embraced by Henry George. Today, despite a considerable number of books and published academic papers on the history of the movement established by Henry George and his generation of stalwart supporters, few people in any country one might name know the movement lives on. Continue reading

If Men Were Angels

by Edward J. Dodson

One of the issues we face in every society is how best to limit the powers of government to those essential to individual liberty, equality of opportunity and the protection of our equal right to a healthy physical environment. History and our contemporary experience both support the conclusion that there is no fixed set of functions to be performed by government at all times and in all places. Continue reading

Are Fannie and Freddie Really The Devil?

by Ed Dodson and Lindy Davies

Ed: In your response to the comments you received regarding your “Georgist theory of history” article, you make the statement that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have helped to “cement landed privilege in place” – so much so that the GSEs deserve to be called “the Devil.” Do you really believe this is the case? Continue reading