Tom Palmer's books are always excellent starting points for new libertarians. This is a good primer on libertarian history, philosophy, and issues.

Previous recommendations can be found here.

Description

What is freedom? How is freedom related to justice, law, property, peace, and prosperity? Tom Palmer has spent a lifetime—as a scholar, teacher, journalist, and activist—asking and answering these questions. Since its publication in 2009, Realizing Freedom has been the recipient of wide acclaim, both in the United States and around the world. Now, this expanded edition adds even greater depth and dimension to the book, with newly added essays that confirm Palmer’s role as one of liberty’s most articulate advocates. A tireless educator, Palmer has traveled the world to bring the message of freedom to people on every continent. At home, he has been an incisive commentator on current affairs as well as an original and innovative thinker in political philosophy. The essays in this volume are drawn from his decades of work on the theory of justice, multiculturalism, democracy and limited government, globalization, the law and economics of patents and copyrights, among many other topics, and reflect the many levels on which Palmer has promoted individual liberty.