# Taking a Stand **URL:** **By** Robert Higgs, Aaron Ross Powell, Trevor Burrus **Published:** November 20, 2015 --- Robert Higgs joins us this week to share his reflections on individual liberty, economics, war and peace, and the role of the state in human affairs. The economic historian and economist Robert Higgs joins us to talk about his new book, [_Taking a Stand: Reflections on Life, Liberty, and the Economy_](http://www.amazon.com/Taking-Stand-Reflections-Liberty-Economy/dp/1598132040) (2015). **Show Notes and Further Reading** Higgs's classic work on how government has grown, [_Crisis and Leviathan: Critical Episodes in the Growth of American Government_](http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1598131117/) (1987). We also talk about Higgs's [_Competition and Coercion: Blacks in the American economy 1865-1914_](http://www.amazon.com/Competition-Coercion-American-economy-1865-1914/dp/0521088402/) (1977). Higgs mentions a few books by C. Wright Mills: [_The Power Elite_](http://www.amazon.com/Power-Elite-C-Wright-Mills/dp/0195133544/) (1956) and [_The Sociological Imagination_](http://www.amazon.com/Sociological-Imagination-C-Wright-Mills/dp/0195133730/) (1959).