An ideology is a set of ideas that constitutes one's goals, expectations, and actions. An ideology can be thought of as a comprehensive vision, as a way of looking at things (compare worldview), as in common sense (see Ideology in everyday society below) and several philosophical tendencies (see Political ideologies), or a set of ideas proposed by the dominant class of a society to all members of this society (a "received consciousness" or product of socialization). The main purpose behind an ideology is to offer either change in society, or adherence to a set of ideals where conformity already exists, through a normative thought process. Ideologies are systems of abstract thought applied to public matters and thus make this concept central to politics. Implicitly every political or economic tendency entails an ideology whether or not it is propounded as an explicit system of thought. It is how society sees things.

(For the Marxist definition of ''ideology'', see Ideology as an instrument of social reproduction below.)

History

The term "ideology" was born in the highly controversial philosophical and political debates and fights of the French Revolution and acquired several other meanings from the early days of the First French Empire to the present. The word was coined by Destutt de Tracy in 1796, assembling the parts ''idea'' (near to the Lockean sense) and ''-logy''. He used it to refer to one aspect of his "science of ideas" (to the study itself, not the subject of the study). He separated three aspects, namely: ideology, general grammar, and logic, considering respectively the subject, the means, and the reason of this science. He argues that among these aspects ideology is the most generic term, because the science of ideas also contains the study of their expression and deduction.

According to Karl Mannheim's historical reconstruction of the shifts in the meaning of ideology, the modern meaning of the word was born when Napoleon Bonaparte (as a politician) used it in an abusive way against "the ideologues" (a group which included Cabanis, Condorcet, Constant, Daunou, Say, Madame de Staël, and Tracy), to express the pettiness of his (liberal republican) political opponents.

Perhaps the most accessible source for the near-original meaning of ''ideology'' is Hippolyte Taine's work on the Ancien Regime (the first volume of "Origins of Contemporary France"). He describes ideology as rather like teaching philosophy by the Socratic method, but without extending the vocabulary beyond what the general reader already possessed, and without the examples from observation that practical science would require. Taine identifies it not just with Destutt De Tracy, but also with his milieu, and includes Condillac as one of its precursors. (Tracy read the works of Locke and Condillac while he was imprisoned during the Reign of Terror.)

The word "ideology" was coined long before the Russians coined "intelligentsia", or before the adjective "intellectual" referred to a sort of person (see substantive), i.e. an intellectual. Thus these words were not around when the hard-headed, driven Napoleon Bonaparte took the word "ideologues" to ridicule his intellectual opponents. Gradually, however, the term "ideology" has dropped some of its pejorative sting, and has become a neutral term in the analysis of differing political opinions and views of social groups. While Karl Marx situated the term within class struggle and domination, others believed it was a necessary part of institutional functioning and social integration.

Analysis

''Meta-ideology'' is the study of the structure, form, and manifestation of ideologies. Meta-ideology posits that ideology is a ''coherent system of ideas'', relying upon a few basic assumptions about reality that may or may not have any factual basis, but are subjective choices that serve as the seed around which further thought grows. According to this perspective, ideologies are neither right nor wrong, but only a relativistic intellectual strategy for categorizing the world. The pluses and minuses of ideology range from the vigor and fervor of true believers to ideological infallibility. Excessive need for certitude lurks at fundamentalist levels in politics and religions.

The works of George Walford and Harold Walsby, done under the heading of systematic ideology, are attempts to explore the relationships between ideology and social systems. Charles Blattberg has offered an account which distinguishes political ideologies from political philosophies.

David W. Minar describes six different ways in which the word "ideology" has been used: # As a collection of certain ideas with certain kinds of ''content'', usually normative; # As the ''form or internal logical structure'' that ideas have within a set; # By the role in which ideas play in ''human-social interaction''; # By the role that ideas play in the ''structure of an organization''; # As meaning, whose purpose is ''persuasion''; and # As the ''locus'' of social interaction, possibly.

For Willard A. Mullins, an ideology is composed of four basic characteristics: # it must have power over cognition # it must be capable of guiding one's evaluations; # it must provide guidance towards action; # and, as stated above, it must be logically coherent.

Mullins emphasizes that an ideology should be contrasted with the related (but different) issues of ''utopia'' and ''historical myth''.

The German philosopher Christian Duncker called for a "critical reflection of the ideology concept" (2006). In his work, he strove to bring the concept of ideology into the foreground, as well as the closely connected concerns of epistemology and history. In this work, the term ideology is defined in terms of a system of presentations that explicitly or implicitly claim to absolute truth.

Though the word "ideology" is most often found in political discourse, there are many different kinds of ideology: political, social, epistemological, ethical, etc.

Ideology as an instrument of social reproduction

In the Marxist economic base and superstructure model of society, ''base'' denotes the relations of production, and ''superstructure'' denotes the dominant ideology (religious, legal, political systems). The economic base of production determines the political superstructure of a society. Ruling class-interests determine the superstructure and the nature of the justifying ideology—actions feasible because the ruling class control the means of production. For example, in a feudal mode of production, religious ideology is the most prominent aspect of the superstructure, while in capitalist formations, ideologies such as liberalism and social democracy dominate. Hence the great importance of the ideology justifying a society; it politically confuses the alienated groups of society via false consciousness, such as in the case of commodity fetishism—the belief that value is inherent to a commodity, rather than external, added to it via labor.

The ruling class affect their social reproduction by the dominant ideology's representing—to every social-economic class—that the economic interests of the ruling class are the economic interests of the entire society. Some explanations have been presented. György Lukács proposes ideology as a projection of the class consciousness of the ruling class. Antonio Gramsci uses cultural hegemony to explain why the working-class have a false ideological conception of what are their best interests.

Chronologically, the dominant ideologies in Capitalism are: # classical liberalism # modern liberalism # social democracy # neo-liberalism

corresponding to these three capitalist stages of development: # extensive stage # intensive stage # contemporary capitalism (late capitalism)

The Marxist formulation of "ideology as an instrument of social reproduction" is conceptually important to the sociology of knowledge, viz. Karl Mannheim, Daniel Bell, and Jürgen Habermas et al. Moreover, Mannheim has developed, and progressed, from the "total" but "special" Marxist conception of ideology to a "general" and "total" ideological conception acknowledging that all ideology (including Marxism) resulted from social life, an idea developed by the sociologist Pierre Bourdieu.

Louis Althusser's ''Ideological State Apparatuses''

Louis Althusser proposed a materialistic conception of ideology, which made use of a special type of discourse: the lacunar discourse. A number of propositions, which are never untrue, suggest a number of other propositions, which are. In this way, the essence of the lacunar discourse is what is ''not'' told (but is suggested).

For example, the statement "All are equal before the law," which is a theoretical groundwork of current legal systems, suggests that all people may be of equal worth or have equal "opportunities". This is not true, for the concept of private property and power over the means of production results in some people being able to own more (''much'' more) than others. This power disparity contradicts the claim that all share both practical worth and future opportunity equally; for example, the rich can afford better legal representation, which practically privileges them before the law.

Althusser also proffered the concept of the Ideological State Apparatus to explain his theory of ideology. His first thesis was "''ideology has no history''": while individual ideolog''ies'' have histories, interleaved with the general class struggle of society, the general form of ideology is external to history. His second thesis, "''Ideas are material''", explains his materialistic attitude, which he illustrates with the "scandalous advice" of Pascal toward unbelievers: "kneel and pray, and then you will believe". For Althusser, beliefs and ideas are the products of social practices, not the reverse. What is ultimately important for Althusser are not the subjective beliefs held in the "minds" of human individuals, but rather the material institutions, rituals, and discourses that produce these beliefs.

Feminism as critique of ideology

Naturalizing socially constructed patterns of behavior has always been an important mechanism in the production and reproduction of ideologies. Feminist theorists have paid close attention to these mechanisms. Adrienne Rich, for example, has shown how to understand motherhood as a social institution. However, feminism is not a homogeneous whole, and some corners of feminist thought criticize the critique of social constructionism, by advocating that it disregards too much of human nature and natural tendencies. The debate, they say, is about the normative/naturalistic fallacy—the idea that just something "being" natural does not necessarily mean it "ought" to be the case.

==Political ideologies== Many political parties base their political action and program on an ideology. In social studies, a Political ''Ideology'' is a certain ethical set of ideals, principles, doctrines, myths, or symbols of a social movement, institution, class, or large group that explains how society should work, and offers some political and cultural blueprint for a certain social order. A political ideology largely concerns itself with how to allocate power and to what ends it should be used. Some parties follow a certain ideology very closely, while others may take broad inspiration from a group of related ideologies without specifically embracing any one of them.

Political ideologies have two dimensions: # ''Goals'': how society should work (or be arranged). # ''Methods'': the most appropriate ways to achieve the ideal arrangement.

An ideology is a collection of ideas. Typically, each ideology contains certain ideas on what it considers to be the best form of government (e.g. democracy, theocracy, etc.), and the best economic system (e.g. capitalism, socialism, etc.). Sometimes the same word is used to identify both an ideology and one of its main ideas. For instance, "socialism" may refer to an economic system, or it may refer to an ideology which supports that economic system.

Ideologies also identify themselves by their position on the political spectrum (such as the left, the center or the right), though this is very often controversial. Finally, ideologies can be distinguished from political strategies (e.g. populism) and from single issues that a party may be built around (e.g. legalization of marijuana). Philosopher Michael Oakeshott provides a good definition of ideology as "the formalized abridgment of the supposed sub-stratum of the rational truth contained in the tradition."

Studies of the concept of ideology itself (rather than specific ideologies) have been carried out under the name of systematic ideology.

Political ideologies are concerned with many different aspects of a society, some of which are: the economy, education, health care, labor law, criminal law, the justice system, the provision of social security and social welfare, trade, the environment, minors, immigration, race, use of the military, patriotism, and established religion.

There are many proposed methods for the classification of political ideologies. See the political spectrum article for a more in-depth discussion of these different methods (each of whom generates a specific political spectrum).

Today, many commentators claim that we are living in a post-ideological age, in which redemptive, all-encompassing ideologies have failed, and this is often associated with Francis Fukuyama's writings on "the end of history".

Epistemological ideologies

Even when the challenging of existing beliefs is encouraged, as in science, the dominant paradigm or mindset can prevent certain challenges, theories, or experiments from being advanced.

There are critics who view science as an ideology in itself, called scientism. Some scientists respond that, while the scientific method is itself an ideology, as it is a collection of ideas, there is nothing particularly wrong or bad about it.

Other critics point out that while science itself is not a misleading ideology, there are some fields of study within science that are misleading. Two examples discussed here are in the fields of ecology and economics.

A special case of science adopted as ideology is that of ecology, which studies the relationships among living things on Earth. Perceptual psychologist James J. Gibson believed that human perception of ecological relationships was the basis of self-awareness and cognition itself. Linguist George Lakoff has proposed a cognitive science of mathematics wherein even the most fundamental ideas of arithmetic would be seen as consequences or products of human perception—which is itself necessarily evolved within an ecology.

Deep ecology and the modern ecology movement (and, to a lesser degree, Green parties) appear to have adopted ecological sciences as a positive ideology.

Some accuse ecological economics of likewise turning scientific theory into political economy, although theses in that science can often be tested. The modern practice of green economics fuses both approaches and seems to be part science, part ideology.

This is far from the only theory of economics to be raised to ideology status—some notable economically based ideologies include mercantilism, mixed economy, social Darwinism, communism, laissez-faire economics, and free trade. There are also current theories of safe trade and fair trade which can be seen as ideologies.

Psychological research

Psychological research increasingly suggests that ideologies reflect motivational processes, as opposed to the view that political convictions always reflect independent and unbiased thinking. Research in 2008 proposed that ideologies may function as prepackaged units of interpretation that spread because of basic human motives to understand the world, avoid existential threat, and maintain valued interpersonal relationships. The authors conclude that such motives may lead disproportionately to the adoption of system-justifying worldviews. Psychologists have generally found that personality traits, individual difference variables, needs, and ideological beliefs seem to have a common thread.

Ideology and semiotic theory

According to the semiotician Bob Hodge, ideology "identifies a unitary object that incorporates complex sets of meanings with the social agents and processes that produced them. No other term captures this object as well as 'ideology'. Foucault's 'episteme' is too narrow and abstract, not social enough. His 'discourse', popular because it covers some of ideology's terrain with less baggage, is too confined to verbal systems. 'Worldview' is too metaphysical, 'propaganda' too loaded. Despite or because of its contradictions, 'ideology' still plays a key role in semiotics oriented to social, political life". Authors such as Michael Freeden have also recently incorporated a semantic analysis to the study of ideologies.

In everyday society

In public discussions, certain ideas arise more commonly than others. Often people with diverse backgrounds and interests may find themselves thinking alike in ways startling to those from other backgrounds. Social scientists might explain this phenomenon as evidence of ideologies.

Dominant ideologies appear as "neutral", holding to assumptions that are largely unchallenged. Meanwhile, all other ideologies that differ from the dominant ideology are seen as radical, no matter what the content of their actual vision may be. The philosopher Michel Foucault wrote about the concept of apparent ideological neutrality. Ideology is not the same thing as philosophy. Philosophy is an analytic method for assessing ideologies and belief systems. Some attribute to ideology positive characteristics like vigor and fervor, or negative features like excessive certitude and fundamentalist rigor.

Organizations that strive for power will try to influence the ideology of a society to become closer to what they want it to be. Political organizations (governments included) and other groups (e.g. lobbyists) try to influence people by broadcasting their opinions.

When most people in a society think alike about certain matters, or even forget that there are alternatives to the status quo, we arrive at the concept of hegemony, about which the philosopher Antonio Gramsci wrote. Such a state of affairs has been dramatized many times in literature: ''Nineteen Eighty-Four'' by George Orwell; ''Brave New World'' by Aldous Huxley; and ''A Wrinkle in Time'' by Madeleine L'Engle. Noam Chomsky and Edward S. Herman have argued that social ideological homogeneity can be achieved by restricting and filtering the political, social, and economic information transmitted by mass communication.

See also

State ideology of the Soviet Union

Hegemony

-ism

List of ideologies named after people

Noble lie

Paradigm

Social criticism

Socially constructed reality

System justification

Notes

References

Christian Duncker (Hg.): ''Ideologiekritik Aktuell – Ideologies Today. Bd. 1. London 2008,. ISBN 978-1-84790-015-9

Christian Duncker: ''Kritische Reflexionen Des Ideologiebegriffes'', 2006, ISBN 1-903343-88-7

Minar, David M. (1961) "Ideology and Political Behavior", ''Midwest Journal of Political Science''. Midwest Political Science Association.

Mullins, Willard A. (1972) "On the Concept of Ideology in Political Science." ''The American Political Science Review''. American Political Science Association.

Pinker, Steven. (2002) "The Blank Slate: The Modern Denial of Human Nature." New York: Penguin Group, Inc. ISBN 0-670-03151-8

Further reading

Marx, Karl ([1845-46] 1932) ''The German Ideology''

Lukács, Georg (1919–23) ''History and Class Consciousness''

Mannheim, Karl (1936) ''Ideology and Utopia'' Routledge

Althusser, Louis (1971) 'Ideology and Ideological State Apparatuses' ''Lenin and Philosophy and Other Essays'' Monthly Review Press ISBN 1583670394

Minogue, Kenneth (1985) ''Alien Powers: The Pure Theory of Ideology'', Palgrave Macmillan, ISBN 0-312-01860-6

Zizek, Slavoj (1989) ''The Sublime Object of Ideology'' Verso ISBN 0-86091-97-14

Eagleton, Terry (1991) ''Ideology. An introduction'', Verso, ISBN 0-86091-319-8

Freeden, Michael. 1996. ''Ideologies and Political Theory: A Conceptual Approach''. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0198294146

Hawkes, David (2003) ''Ideology'' (2nd ed.), Routledge, ISBN 0-415-29012-0

Sorce Keller, Marcello. “Why is Music so Ideological, Why Do Totalitarian States Take It So Seriously: A Personal View from History, and the Social Sciences”, ''Journal of Musicological Research'', XXVI(2007), no. 2-3, pp. 91–122.

Malesevic, Sinisa and Iain Mackenzie (ed). Ideology after Poststructuralism. London: Pluto Press.

External links

Ideology Study Guide

Louis Althusser's "Ideology and Ideological State Apparatuses"

Ideology and Symbolic Power: Between Althusser and Bourdieu

Ideologies Category:20th-century philosophy Category:Critical theory Category:Epistemology Category:Thought Category:Marxist theory Category:Philosophical concepts Category:Political philosophy Category:Political terms Category:Sociology

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Coordinates	15°48′00″N47°54′00″N
Name	Billy Bragg
Background	solo_singer
Birth name	Stephen William Bragg
Born	December 20, 1957Barking, London, England
Instrument	Vocals, guitar
Genre	Folk punkFolk rockAlternative rock
Years active	1977–present
Associated acts	The BlokesRiff-RaffWilco
Website	billybragg.co.uk
Notable instruments	}}

Stephen William Bragg (born 20 December 1957), better known as Billy Bragg, is an English alternative rock musician and left wing activist. His music blends elements of folk music, punk rock and protest songs, and his lyrics mostly deal with political or romantic themes. His music career has lasted more than 30 years.

Early life

Bragg was born in 1957 in Barking, Essex, the son of Dennis Frederick Austin Bragg, an assistant sales manager to a Barking cap and hat maker, and his wife, Marie Victoria D'Urso. Bragg was educated at Barking Abbey Secondary School in Barking.

Career

In 1977, Bragg formed the punk rock/pub rock band Riff Raff, and toured London's pubs and clubs. The band released a series of singles, which did not receive wide exposure. He also worked in Guy Norris Records in Barking. Bragg became disillusioned with his music career, and in May 1981 joined the British Army as a recruit destined for the Queen's Royal Irish Hussars of the Royal Armoured Corps. After three months, he bought his way out of the army for £175 and returned home, having attended basic training but having never served in a regiment as a soldier.

Bragg began performing frequent concerts and busking around London, playing solo with an electric guitar. His roadie at the time was Andy Kershaw, who became a BBC DJ (Bragg and Kershaw later, in 1989, appeared in an episode of the BBC TV programme, "Great Journeys", in which they travelled the Silver Road from Potosí, Bolivia, to the Pacific coast at Arica, Chile).

Bragg's demo tape initially got no response from the record industry, but by pretending to be a television repair man, he got into the office of Charisma Records' A&R; man Peter Jenner. Jenner liked the tape, but the company was near bankruptcy and had no budget to sign new artists. Bragg got an offer to record more demos for a music publisher, so Jenner agreed to release them as a record. ''Life's a Riot with Spy Vs. Spy'' was released in July 1983 by Charisma's new imprint, Utility. Hearing DJ John Peel mention on-air that he was hungry, Bragg rushed to the BBC with a mushroom biryani, so Peel played a song from ''Life's a Riot with Spy Vs. Spy'' although at the wrong speed (since the 12" LP was, unconventionally, cut to play at 45rpm). Peel insisted he would have played the song even without the biryani and later played it at the correct speed.

Within months, Charisma had been taken over by Virgin Records and Jenner, who had been laid off, became Bragg's manager. Stiff Records' press officer Andy Macdonald – who was setting up his own record label, Go! Discs – received a copy of ''Life's a Riot with Spy Vs. Spy''. He made Virgin an offer and the album was re-released on Go! Discs in November 1983. In 1984, he released ''Brewing Up with Billy Bragg'', a mixture of political songs (e.g., "It Says Here") and songs of unrequited love (e.g., "The Saturday Boy"). The following year he released ''Between the Wars'', an EP of political songs that included a cover version of Leon Rosselson's "The World Turned Upside Down" – the EP made the top 20 of the UK Singles Chart and earned Bragg an appearance on ''Top of the Pops''. Bragg later collaborated with Rosselson on the song, "Ballad of the Spycatcher". In 1985, his song "A New England", with an additional verse, became a Top 10 hit in the UK for Kirsty MacColl. After MacColl's early death, Bragg always sang the extra verse in her honour. In 1984–1985 he toured North America.

In 1986, Bragg released ''Talking with the Taxman about Poetry'', which became his first Top 10 album. Its title is taken from a poem by Vladimir Mayakovsky and a translated version of the poem was printed on the record's inner sleeve. ''Back to Basics'' is a 1987 collection of his first three releases: ''Life's A Riot With Spy Vs. Spy'', ''Brewing Up with Billy Bragg'', and the ''Between The Wars EP''. Bragg released his fourth album, ''Workers Playtime'', in September 1988. With this album, Bragg added a backing band and accompaniment. In May 1990, Bragg released the political mini-LP, ''The Internationale''. The songs were, in part, a return to his solo guitar style, but some songs featured more complicated arrangements and included a brass band. The album paid tribute to one of Bragg's influences with the song, "I Dreamed I Saw Phil Ochs Last Night", which is an adapted version of Earl Robinson's song, "I Dreamed I Saw Joe Hill Last Night", itself an adaptation of a poem by Alfred Hayes.

The album ''Don't Try This at Home'' was released in September 1991, and included the song, "Sexuality", which reached the UK Singles Chart. Bragg had been persuaded by Go! Discs' Andy and Juliet Macdonald to sign a four-album deal with a million pound advance, and a promise to promote the album with singles and videos. This gamble was not rewarded with extra sales, and the situation put the company in financial difficulty. In exchange for ending the contract early and repaying a large amount of the advance, Bragg regained all rights to his back catalogue. Bragg continued to promote the album with his backing band, The Red Stars, which included his Riff Raff colleague and long-time roadie, Wiggy.

Bragg released the album ''William Bloke'' in 1996 after taking time off to help raise his son. Around that time, Nora Guthrie (daughter of American folk artist Woody Guthrie) asked Bragg to set some of her father's unrecorded lyrics to music. The result was a collaboration with the band Wilco and Natalie Merchant (with whom Bragg had worked previously). They released the album ''Mermaid Avenue'' in 1998, and ''Mermaid Avenue Vol. II'' in 2000. A rift with Wilco over mixing and sequencing the album led to Bragg recruiting his own band, The Blokes, to promote the album. The Blokes included keyboardist Ian McLagan, who had been a member of Bragg's boyhood heroes The Faces. The documentary film Man in the Sand depicts the roles of Nora Guthrie, Bragg, and Wilco in the creation of the Mermaid Avenue albums.

In 2004, Bragg joined Florida ska-punk band Less Than Jake to perform a version of 'The Brightest Bulb Has Burned Out' for the ''Rock Against Bush'' compilation.

At the 2005 Beautiful Days Festival in Devon, Bragg teamed up with the Levellers to perform a short set of songs by The Clash in celebration of Joe Strummer's birthday. Bragg performed guitar and lead vocals on "Police and Thieves", and performed guitar and backing vocals on "English Civil War", and "Police on my Back".

In 2007, Bragg moved closer to his English folk music roots by joining the WOMAD-inspired collective The Imagined Village, who recorded an album of updated versions of traditional English songs and dances and toured through that autumn. Bragg released his album ''Mr. Love & Justice'' in March 2008. This was the second Bragg album to be named after a book by Colin MacInnes. In 2008, during the NME Awards ceremony, Bragg sang a duet with British solo act Kate Nash. They mixed up their two greatest hits, Nash playing "Foundations", and Bragg redoing his "A New England". Bragg also collaborated with the poet and playwright, Patrick Jones, who supported Bragg's Tour.

In 2008, Bragg played a small role in Stuart Bamforth's film "''A13: Road Movie''". Bragg is featured alongside union reps, vicars, burger van chefs and Members of Parliament in a film that explored "the overlooked, the hidden and the disregarded."

He was involved in the play ''Pressure Drop'' at the Wellcome Collection in London in April and May 2010. The production, written by Mick Gorden, and billed as "part play, part gig, part installation", featured new songs by Bragg. He performed during the play with his band, and acted as compere.

Bragg curated the Leftfield stage at Glastonbury Festival 2010.

He will also be partaking in the Bush Theatre's 2011 project ''Sixty Six'' where he has written a piece based upon a chapter of the King James Bible.

Politics

Bragg has been involved with grassroots, broadly leftist, political movements, and this is often reflected in his lyrics. Bragg has recorded and performed cover versions of famous socialist anthems ''The Internationale'' and ''The Red Flag''. Bragg said in an interview: "My theory is this; I'm not a political songwriter. I'm an honest songwriter. I try and write honestly about what I see around me now." In another interview, Bragg said: "I don't mind being labelled a political songwriter. The thing that troubles me is being dismissed as a political songwriter." In an interview with ''Bullz-Eye'', Bragg said:

I would then say that I am Mr. Love and Justice, and to check out the love songs. That’s how I capture people. People do say to me, “I love your songs, but I just can’t stand your politics.” And I say, “Well, Republicans are always welcome. Come on over!” I would hate to stand at the door, saying to people, “Do you agree with these positions? If not, you can’t come in.”

Bragg expressed support for the 1984 miners' strike, and the following year he formed the musicians' alliance Red Wedge, which promoted the Labour Party and discouraged young people from voting for the Conservative Party in the 1987 general election. Following the defeat of the Labour Party and the repeated victory of Margaret Thatcher and her Conservative government, Bragg joined Charter88 to push for a reform of the British political system.

Also during the 1980s, Bragg travelled to the Soviet Union a few times, after Mikhail Gorbachev had started to promote the policies of perestroika and glasnost. During one trip, he was accompanied by MTV, and during another trip he was filmed for the 1998 mini-documentary ''Mr Bragg Goes to Moscow'', by Hannu Puttonen.

In 1999, Bragg appeared before a commission that debated possible reform of the House of Lords.

During the 2001 UK general election, Bragg attempted to combat voter apathy by promoting tactical voting in an attempt to unseat Conservative Party candidates in Dorset, particularly in South Dorset and West Dorset. The Labour Party won South Dorset with their smallest majority, and the Conservative majority in West Dorset was reduced.

Bragg has developed an interest in English national identity, apparent in his 2002 album ''England, Half-English'' and his 2006 book ''The Progressive Patriot''. The book expressed his view that English socialists can reclaim patriotism from the right wing. He draws on Victorian poet Rudyard Kipling for an inclusive sense of Englishness. Bragg has participated in a series of debates with members of the Socialist Workers Party who disagree with his argument. Bragg also supports Scottish independence.

Bragg has been an outspoken opponent of fascism, racism, bigotry, sexism and homophobia, and is a supporter of a multi-racial Britain. As a result, Bragg has come under attack from far right groups such as the British National Party. In a 2004 ''The Guardian'' article, Bragg was quoted as saying:

The British National Party would probably make it into a parliament elected by proportional representation, too. It would shine a torch into the dirty little corner where the BNP defecate on our democracy, and that would be much more powerful than duffing them up in the street – which I'm also in favour of.

Also in 2004, Bragg collaborated with American ska punk band Less Than Jake to record a song for the ''Rock Against Bush'' compilation album.

During the 2005 general election campaign in the Bethnal Green and Bow constituency, Bragg supported Oona King, a pro-Iraq war Labour candidate, over George Galloway, an anti-war Respect Party candidate, due to a belief that splitting the left-wing vote would allow the Conservatives to win the seat. Galloway overturned King's 10,000-strong majority to become his party's only MP.

In March 2006, journalist Garry Bushell (a former Trotskyist who ran as a candidate for the English Democrats in 2005) accused Bragg of "pontificating on a South London council estate when we all know he lives in a lovely big house in West Dorset".

In January 2010, Bragg announced that he would withhold his income tax as a protest against the Royal Bank of Scotland's plan to pay bonuses of approximately of £1.5 billion to staff in its investment banking business. Bragg set up a Facebook group, made appearances on radio and television news programmes, and made speech at Speakers' Corner in London's Hyde Park. Bragg said,“Millions are already facing stark choices: are they willing to work longer hours for less money, or would they rather be unemployed? I don’t see why the bankers at RBS shouldn’t be asked the same.”

On the eve of the 2010 general election, Bragg announced that he would be voting for the Liberal Democrats because "they've got the best manifesto". He also backed the Lib Dems for tactical voting reasons. Bragg later expressed disappointment with the party, stating that 'the Lib Dems had failed democracy'.

Bragg was also very active in his hometown of Barking as part of Searchlight's Hope not Hate campaign, where the BNP's leader Nick Griffin was standing for election. At one point during the campaign Bragg squared up to BNP London Assembly Member Richard Barnbrook, calling him a "Fascist Racist" and saying "when you're gone from this borough, we will rebuild this community". The BNP came third on election day.

Bragg is a board director and key spokesman for the Featured Artists Coalition, a body representing the rights of recording artists. Bragg founded the organisation Jail Guitar Doors, which supplies instruments to prisoners to encourage them to address problems in a non-confrontational way.

Bragg is a regular at the Tolpuddle Martyrs' Festival, an annual event celebrating the memory of those transported to Australia for founding a union in the 1830s.

In January 2011, news sources reported that 20 to 30 residents of Bragg's Dorset hometown, Burton Bradstock, had received anonymous letters viciously attacking Bragg and his politics, and urging residents to oppose him in the village. Bragg claimed that a BNP supporter was behind the letters, which argued that Bragg is a hypocrite for advocating socialism while living a wealthy lifestyle, and referred to him as anti-British and pro-immigration.

In July 2011 Billy joined the growing protests over the News of the World phone hacking affair with the recording of "Never Buy the Sun" which references many of the scandals key points including the Milly Dowler case, police bribes and associated political fallout. It also draws on the 22 year Liverpool boycott of ''The Sun'' for their coverage of the Hillsborough Disaster.

Discography

''Life's a Riot with Spy Vs Spy'' (1983)

''Brewing Up with Billy Bragg'' (1984)

''Talking with the Taxman about Poetry'' (1986)

''Back to Basics'' (1987)

''Workers Playtime'' (1988)

''The Internationale'' (1990)

''Don't Try This at Home'' (1991)

''William Bloke'' (1996)

''Bloke on Bloke'' (1997)

''Mermaid Avenue'' (1998) (with Wilco)

''Mermaid Avenue Vol. II'' (2000) (with Wilco)

''England, Half-English'' (2002) (with the Blokes)

''Mr. Love & Justice'' (2008)

Further reading

Billy Bragg, ''The Progressive Patriot: A Search for Belonging'' (London: Bantam Press, 2006) ISBN 978-0-593-05343-0

Billy Bragg, ''How we all lost when Thatcher won'': (guardian.co.uk, 5 March 2009)

See also

Red Wedge

Charter88

George Gimarc

References

External links

Braggtopia

Billy Bragg collection at the Internet Archive's live music archive

Billy Bragg's Big Busk At Lincoln Center, 27 July 2011

Category:1957 births Category:Alternative rock musicians Category:Anti-corporate activists Category:Anti-fascists Category:British socialists Category:English activists Category:English buskers Category:English-language singers Category:English male singers Category:English political writers Category:English singer-songwriters Category:English socialists Category:English tax resisters Category:Living people Category:People associated with Oxford Brookes University Category:People from Barking Category:Folk punk musicians Category:Live Music Archive artists

ca:Billy Bragg de:Billy Bragg es:Billy Bragg fr:Billy Bragg it:Billy Bragg nl:Billy Bragg pt:Billy Bragg ru:Брэгг, Билли simple:Billy Bragg fi:Billy Bragg sv:Billy Bragg

Coordinates	15°48′00″N47°54′00″N
name	Geert Wilders
office	Parliamentary leader – Party for Freedom House of Representatives of the Netherlands
term start	November 23, 2006
office1	Member of the House of Representatives – Party for Freedom
term start1	November 30, 2006
office2	Member of the House of Representatives – Group Wilders
term start2	September 2, 2004
term end2	November 30, 2006
office3	Member of the House of Representatives – People's Party for Freedom and Democracy
term start3	July 26, 2002
term end3	September 2, 2004
term start4	August 25, 1998
term end4	May 23, 2002
birth date	September 06, 1963
birth place	Venlo, Netherlands
birthname	Geert Wilders
nationality	Dutch
party	Party for Freedom (Partij voor de Vrijheid – PVV) (2006–present) People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (Volkspartij voor Vrijheid en Democratie – VVD) (1989–2004)
spouse	Krisztina Wilders (1992–present)
residence	The Hague, Netherlands
alma mater	Open University in the Netherlands
occupation	Politician
religion	None (agnostic)
website	Party for Freedom website }}

Geert Wilders (; born September 6, 1963 in Venlo) is a Dutch right-wing politician and leader of the Party for Freedom (Partij voor de Vrijheid – PVV), the third-largest political party in the Netherlands. He is the Parliamentary group leader of his party in the Dutch House of Representatives. In the formation in 2010 of the current Rutte cabinet, a minority cabinet of VVD and CDA, he actively participated in the negotiations, resulting in a "toleration agreement" (''gedoogakkoord'') between the PVV and these parties. Wilders is best known for his criticism of Islam, summing up his views by saying, "I don't hate Muslims, I hate Islam".

Raised a Roman Catholic, Wilders left the church at his coming of age. His travels to Israel as a young adult, as well as to neighbouring Arab countries, helped form his political views. Wilders worked as a speechwriter for the conservative-liberal People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (Volkspartij voor Vrijheid en Democratie – VVD), and later served as parliamentary assistant to party leader Frits Bolkestein from 1990 to 1998. He was elected to the Utrecht city council in 1996, and later to the House of Representatives. Citing irreconcilable differences over the party's position on the accession of Turkey to the European Union, he left the VVD in 2004 to form his own party, the Party for Freedom.

Wilders has campaigned to stop what he views as the "Islamisation of the Netherlands". He compares the Quran with ''Mein Kampf'' and has campaigned to have the book banned in the Netherlands. He advocates ending immigration from Muslim countries, and supports banning the construction of new mosques. Wilders was a speaker at the Facing Jihad Conference held in Jerusalem in 2008, which discussed the dangers of jihad, and has called for a hard line against what he called the "street terror" exerted by minorities in Dutch cities. His controversial 2008 film about his views on Islam, ''Fitna'', received international attention. He has been described in the media as populist and labeled far right, though this is disputed by other observers. Wilders, who has refused to align himself with other European far-right leaders such as Jean-Marie Le Pen and Jörg Haider, views himself as a right-wing liberal and has expressed concern of being "linked with the wrong rightist fascist groups."

Wilders was banned from entering the United Kingdom between 12 February 2009 and 13 October 2009 by the Labour government, the Home Office saying his presence would be a "threat to one of the fundamental interests of society". The ban was overturned after Wilders appealed and he visited the UK in October 2009, and again in March 2010 to show his film. In January 2009, the Amsterdam Court of Appeal ordered Wilders' prosecution for "incitement to hatred and discrimination". Wilders was acquitted of these charges on 23 June 2011.

Early life and career

Wilders was born in the city of Venlo, in the northern part of the Dutch Province of Limburg on the southeastern border with Germany. He is the youngest of four children, and was raised Catholic. He was born to a Dutch father and a Dutch mother born in the Dutch East Indies, of Dutch and Dutch-Indonesian descent or Indo heritage through her mother's side. His father worked as a manager for the printing and copying manufacturing company Océ. His father fled the area to escape the Nazis and became so traumatised from the experience that he refused to physically enter Germany even forty years later.

Wilders received his secondary education at the Mavo and Havo middle school and high school in Venlo. Reflecting passions that came to the fore later in his career, Wilders took a course in health insurance at the Stichting Opleiding Sociale Verzekeringen in Amsterdam and earned several law certificates at the Dutch Open University.

Wilders' goal after he graduated from secondary school was to see the world. Because he did not have enough money to travel to Australia, his preferred destination, he went to Israel instead. For several years he volunteered in a moshav and worked for several firms, becoming in his own words "a true friend of Israel". With the money he saved, he travelled to the neighbouring Arab countries, and was moved by the lack of democracy in the region. When he returned to the Netherlands, he retained Israeli ideas about counter-terrorism and a "special feeling of solidarity" for the country.

Living in Utrecht, Wilders initially worked in the health insurance industry. His interest in the subject led him into politics as a speech-writer for the Netherlands' People's Party for Freedom and Democracy. He started his formal political career as a parliamentary assistant to Liberal party leader Frits Bolkestein, specialising in foreign policy. He held this job from 1990 to 1998. During this time Geert Wilders travelled extensively, visiting countries all across the Middle East, including Iran, Syria, Jordan, Egypt and Israel. Conservative Liberal Party leader Bolkestein was the first Dutch politician to make an issue out of immigration because his party needed electoral gains.As his target, he choose immigrants from Arab countries, because he considers their cultures backward. The issue scored well. He set an example for Wilders not only in his ideas but also in his confrontational speaking style.

=== Personal life === On 10 November 2004, two suspected attackers were captured after an hour-long siege of a building in The Hague. They were in possession of three grenades and were accused of planning to murder Wilders as well as a fellow MP, Ayaan Hirsi Ali. The suspects were presumed to be members of what the Dutch intelligence agency, the General Intelligence and Security Service, has termed the Hofstadgroep. Since this incident Wilders has been under constant security protection because of frequent threats to his life. In September 2007, a Dutch woman was sentenced to a one-year prison term for sending more than 100 threatening emails to Wilders. Wilders remained the most threatened politician in the Netherlands in 2008.

On 18 December 2009, the Rotterdam rapper Mo$heb was sentenced to 80 hours community service and a two-month suspended jail term for threatening Wilders in a rap titled "Wie is de volgende" ("Who's next"), which included that if he met Wilders, it would be "bam bam". The rapper also called on Wilders to take back his words if he wanted to stay alive and said "This is no joke. Last night I dreamed I chopped your head off". The public prosecutor said the threat could reasonably lead to Wilders fearing for his life or that he would be subjected to violence. The court agreed with this conclusion and said the rap was threatening. "A politician must be able to do his work", the judges said.

Wilders is said to have been "deprived... of a personal life for his... hatred of Islam". He is moved by his state-provided bodyguards to a different location every night, and does not receive visitors unless they are carefully screened and escorted at all times. He is married to a former diplomat of Hungarian origin, with whom he can only meet about once every week because of security concerns. The restrictions on his life because of this, he said, are "a situation that I wouldn't wish on my worst enemy".

In January 2010, Karen Geurtsen, a Dutch journalist from the magazine ''HP-De Tijd'', revealed a painful breach of security. She spent four months working undercover, posing as an intern, for the PVV party. She claimed that she had had unchecked access to Wilders. "I could have killed him", were the first words of the article that she published about this operation. According to her, she had "dozens" of opportunities to take his life.

Wilders has acquired nicknames such as "Mozart" and "Captain Peroxide" because of his flamboyant platinum blond hairstyle. Radio Netherlands calls him "the most famous bleach-blond since Marilyn Monroe".

Wilders is an agnostic, but he has stated that he thinks Dutch Christians "are my allies" and that they fundamentally should want the same thing.

Public reception

Wilders has become a controversial figure with polarized opinions on him from the world news media. In 2005, the Dutch public expressed mixed reactions to Wilders' general agenda, with 53% calling it "implausible" and 47% more supportive. He has been described as populist, labelled as both "extreme right" and far right, and defended by others as a mainstream politician with legitimate concerns saying that such labels are shallow smear attempts. Wilders himself rejects the labels and has called the new description "scandalous". He has been accused of building his popularity on fear and resentment and vociferously defended for having the courage to talk openly about the problems unfettered immigration brings with it and the incompatibility of fundamentalist Islam with western values.

On 15 December 2007, Wilders was declared "Politician of the Year" by NOS-radio, a mainstream Dutch radio station. The parliamentary press praised his ability to dominate political discussion and to attract the debate and to get into publicity with his well-timed one-liners. The editors eventually gave the title to Wilders because he was the only one who scored high amongst both the press and the general public.

In December 2009, Wilders came in second in two polls in the Netherlands for Politician of the Year. A panel of Dutch television viewers praised him as "the second best" politician this year (after his outspoken critic Alexander Pechtold), while his colleagues in parliament named him "the second worst" (after Rita Verdonk). After the last elections on 9 June 2010, Wilders holds 24 out of 150 seats in the Dutch parliamentary government.

Some Muslim critics of Wilders accuse him of using Koranic verses out of context. Because of Wilders' perceived positions on Islam, the Dutch–Moroccan rapper Appa, when interviewed about Wilders for a newspaper, said "if someone were to put a bullet in his head, I wouldn't mind". Wilders' views on Islam prompted the Muslim Mayor of Rotterdam, Ahmed Aboutaleb, to reprimand him.

Editorials by AlterNet, ''The Montreal Gazette'', ''The Wall Street Journal'', ''The Guardian'', and ''The New York Times'' have accused Wilders of hypocrisy given that, in their view, Wilders has called for the ban of the sale of the Quran while simultaneously arguing for his own personal freedom of speech. In a speech during a Dutch parliamentary debate, Wilders elaborated that he calls for the consistent application of Dutch laws restricting any act of expression that incites violence. Ideally, he would prefer to see nearly all such laws abolished. As such, he supports a European-wide constitutional protection of freedom of speech like that which exists in the United States.

Wilders has also been compared to the assassinated fellow critic of Islam and filmmaker Theo van Gogh, but he does not see himself as taking on van Gogh's mantle. Wilders has stated that he supports the free speech rights of his critics, saying that "An Imam who wants a politician dead is—however reprehensible—allowed to say so". He has responded to charges of racism and Islamophobia by stating, "I don't hate Muslims. I hate their book and their ideology".

In February 2010, the trailer of a newly published online satirical video on the website of the Dutch radio station FunX, which targets a young urban audience, spoofed a murder attempt on Wilders.

In July 2010, the magazine ''Inspire'' announced that Wilders, as well as Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Kurt Westergaard and Salman Rushdie, were mentioned on a ''"death list"'' of an international islamist terrorist network.

Shortly before this publication it was revealed in The Hague that Dutch law enforcement officers succeeded twice in smuggling a firearm into the parliament buildings and into the guarded headquarter of Wilders' party. This check was carried out by the Special Security Assignments Brigade BSB, a special unit of the Dutch Military Police. The test was carried out following a complaint from Wilders about his security being inadequate.

On 11 September 2010, 2,000 people gathered close by the site of a planned Muslim community center near the site of the World Trade Center attacks, on 11 September 2001, where they were addressed by Wilders who flew from The Netherlands to urge the crowd: "This is where we have draw the line. We must never give a free hand to those who want to subjugate us," Wilders added. "Draw this line so that New York... will never become New Mecca."

Wilders was extensively discussed in American diplomatic cables, released by WikiLeaks in December 2010. In a briefing to President Barack Obama, he was described as "no friend of the US: he opposes Dutch military involvement in Afghanistan; he believes development assistance is money wasted; he opposes NATO missions outside 'allied' territory; he is against most EU initiatives; and, most troubling, he foments fear and hatred of immigrants."

Political career

In 1997, Wilders was elected for the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy (VVD) to the municipal council of Utrecht, the fourth largest city of the Netherlands. He lived in Kanaleneiland, a suburb with cheap social housing and high apartment blocks, and which has a relatively high number of immigrants. While a city councilor, Wilders was mugged in his own neighbourhood; some have speculated that this may have catalysed his political transformation. He was not rewarded for his time on the municipal council of Utrecht, for in the following elections he would score well below the national average in the University city.

A year later, he was elected to the Netherlands' national parliament, but his first four years in parliament drew little attention. However, his appointment in 2002 as a public spokesman for the VVD led Wilders to become more well known for his outspoken criticism of Islamic extremism. Tensions immediately developed within the party, as Wilders found himself to be to the right of most members, and challenged the party line in his public statements. He was expelled from the VVD parliamentary party, and in September 2004, Wilders left the VVD, having been a member since 1989, to form his own political party, Groep Wilders, later renamed the Party for Freedom. The crunch issue with the VVD party line was about his refusal to endorse the party's position that European Union accession negotiations must be started with Turkey.

The Party for Freedom's political platform often overlaps those of the assassinated Rotterdam politician Pim Fortuyn and his Pim Fortuyn List. After his death, Fortuyn's impact remained, as more and more politicians sought to gain political mileage by directly confronting topics such as a ban on immigration that were, from a politically correct point of view, considered unmentionable in the Netherlands until Fortuyn came on the scene and upended the Dutch tradition of consensus politics with an anti-immigration stance. Wilders would position himself to inherit Fortuyn's constituency. He bases his ideas on an ideological framework of small government, law and order and direct democracy. The Party for Freedom call for a €16 billion tax reduction, a far stricter policy toward recreational drug use, investing more in roads and other infrastructure, building nuclear power plants and including animal rights in the Dutch constitution. In the 2006 Dutch parliamentary election, their first parliamentary election, the Party for Freedom won 9 out of the 150 open seats.

In March 2009, in a party meeting in Venlo, Wilders said "I want to be prime minister", believing the PVV will eventually become the Netherlands’ biggest party. "At some point it's going to happen and then it will be a big honour to fulfil the post of prime minister".

Polling conducted throughout March 2009 by Maurice de Hond indicated the Party for Freedom was the most popular parliamentary party. The polls predicted that the party would take 21% of the national vote, winning 32 out of 150 seats in the Dutch parliament. If the polling results were replicated in an election, Wilders would be a major power broker. Under such circumstances, there would also be some likelihood of him becoming Prime Minister of the Netherlands. This has been partially attributed to timely prosecution attempts against him for hate speech and the travel ban imposed on him by the United Kingdom, as well as dissatisfaction with the Dutch government's response to the global financial crisis of 2008–2009.

On 3 March 2010, elections for the local councils were held in the municipalities of The Netherlands. The PVV only contested these local elections in the Dutch towns The Hague and Almere, because of a shortage of good candidates. The big gains that were scored indicated that the party and Wilders might dominate the political scene in the run-up to the parliamentary elections scheduled on 9 June 2010. The PVV won in Almere and came second to the Dutch Labour party in The Hague. In Almere, the PVV won 21 percent of the vote to Labour's 18 percent, preliminary results showed. In The Hague, the PVV had 8 seats—second to Labour with 10 seats.

On 8 March 2010, Wilders announced that he would take a seat on the Hague city council, after it became clear he won 13,000 preference votes. Earlier he had said he would not take up a seat if he won. In the parliamentary elections on 9 June 2010, the PVV went from 9 to 24 seats (out of 150) resulting from over 15% of the vote. This made the PVV the third party in size. With a fragmented parliament, at least three parties were required for an absolute majority. A coalition of VVD and Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA) was negotiated with parliamentary support by the PVV. The PVV did not become part of the government formed by VVD and CDA but actively participated in the negotiations and thus policy decisions and – as part of the outcome agreed that they would not support any motion to dismiss ministers concerning topics listed in a so-called "support agreement" – much like the Danish model where the Danish People's Party plays a similar role. The very fact of the participation of Wilder's party in these negotiations caused fierce discussions in political circles.

Political views

Political principles

Wilders generally considers himself to be a right-wing liberal, with a specific mix of positions independent of the European political spectrum and particular to iconoclastic Dutch society. He has stated that "My allies are not Le Pen or Haider... We'll never join up with the fascists and Mussolinis of Italy. I'm very afraid of being linked with the wrong rightist fascist groups", saying instead his drive is issues such as freedom of expression and Dutch iconoclasm. Wilders views British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher as his greatest political role model. People's Party for Freedom and Democracy figure Frits Bolkestein also heavily influenced his beliefs.

Wilders strongly opposes the Dutch political system in general. He believes that there is a ruling elite of parliamentarians who only care about their own personal careers and disregard the will of the people. He also blames the Dutch system of multi-party coalition governments for a lack of clear and effective policies. In his view, Dutch society advocates rule by consensus and cultural relativism, while he believes that this should change so as to "not tolerate the intolerant".

On foreign relations, Wilders has largely supported Israel and has criticized countries he perceives as enemies of Israel. Furthermore, he has made some proposals in the Dutch Parliament inspired by Israeli policies. For example, he supports implementing Israel's administrative detention in the Netherlands, a practice heavily criticized by human rights groups, which he calls "common sense".

Furthermore, Wilders has revived the ancient idea of reuniting Flanders and the Netherlands.

Wilders published the version of his political manifesto called ''Klare Wijn'' ("Clear Wine") in March 2006. The program proposed ten key points to be implemented:

Considerable reduction of taxes and state regulations.

Replacement of the present Article 1 of the Dutch constitution, guaranteeing equality under the law, by a clause stating the cultural dominance of the Christian, Jewish and humanist traditions.

Reduction of the influence of the European Union, which may no longer be expanded with new member states, especially Turkey; the European Parliament will be abolished. Dutch financial contributions to the European Union should be reduced by billions of euros.

A five year moratorium on the immigration of non-Western foreigners who intend to stay in the Netherlands. Foreign residents will no longer have the right to vote in municipal elections.

A five-year moratorium on the founding of new mosques and Islamic schools; a permanent ban on preaching in any language other than Dutch. Foreign imams will not be allowed to preach. Radical mosques will be closed and radical Muslims will be expelled.

Restoration of educational standards, with an emphasis on the educational value of the family.

Introduction of binding referenda and elected mayors, chiefs of police and prime ministers.

Introduction of minimum penalties, and higher maximum penalties; introduction of administrative detention for terrorist suspects. Street terrorism will be punished by boot camps and denaturalisation and deportation of immigrant offenders.

Restoration of respect and better rewards for teachers, policemen, health care workers and military personnel.

Instead of complicated reorganisation, a more accessible and humane health care system, especially for elderly citizens.

Views on Islam

Wilders is best known for his criticism of Islam, summing up his views by saying, "I don't hate Muslims, I hate Islam". Although identifying Islamic extremists as 5–15% of Muslims, he argues that "there is no such thing as 'moderate Islam and that the "Koran also states that Muslims who believe in only part of the Koran are in fact apostates". He suggests that Muslims should "tear out half of the Koran if they wished to stay in the Netherlands" because it contains "terrible things" and that Muhammad would "... in these days be hunted down as a terrorist".

On 8 August 2007, Wilders opined in an open letter to the Dutch newspaper ''De Volkskrant'' that the Koran, which he called a "fascist book", should be outlawed in the Netherlands, like Adolf Hitler's ''Mein Kampf''. He has stated that "The book incites hatred and killing and therefore has no place in our legal order". He has also referred to Mohammed as "the devil". In Sept 2009 Wilders proposed to put a tax on Hijab wearing by Muslim women. He suggested women could purchase a license at a cost of €1000 and that the money raised could be used in projects beneficial to women's emancipation.

He believes that all Muslim immigration to the Netherlands should be halted and all settled immigrants should be paid to leave. Referring to the increased population of Muslims in the Netherlands, he has said: }} In a speech before the Dutch Parliament, he stated:

Nonetheless, Wilders has traveled widely in the Arab world and ''Der Spiegel'' has stated that Wilders will "wax poetic" over those "magnificent countries". Wilders has also said that "It's a real shame that these places are so chaotic."

Wilders argues that Islam is not a religion, but rather a totalitarian political ideology such as communism and fascism.

Wilders and Israel

Wilders lived in Israel for two years during his youth and has visited the country 40 times in the last 25 years.

Wilders stated about Israel: "I have visited many interesting countries in the Middle East – from Syria to Egypt, from Tunisia to Turkey, from Cyprus to Iran – but nowhere did I have the special feeling of solidarity that I always get when I land at Ben Gurion International Airport." Dutch public TV channel Nederland 2's daily news programme ''Netwerk'' reported that numerous American supporters of Israel financially supported Wilders' Party for Freedom (PVV) and openly approved of his message towards Islam and Islamic terrorism. Wilders told an audience during the report that "We [in the West] are all Israel". He has also said "Israel is the West's first line of defence" against what he perceives to be a threat posed by Islam.

Following the Dutch general election, 2010, in which the PVV were the third biggest party, Wilders said Jordan should be renamed Palestine. The Jordanian government responded saying Wilders' speech was reminiscent of the Israeli right wing. His speech said "Jordan is Palestine. Changing its name to Palestine will end the conflict in the Middle East and provide the Palestinians with an alternate homeland." He also said Israel deserves a special status in the Dutch government because it was fighting for "Jerusalem" in its name.

"If Jerusalem falls into the hands of the Muslims, Athens and Rome will be next. Thus, Jerusalem is the main front protecting the West. It is not a conflict over territory but rather an ideological battle, between the mentality of the liberated West and the ideology of Islamic barbarism. There has been an independent Palestinian state since 1946, and it is the kingdom of Jordan."

He called on the Dutch government to refer to Jordan as Palestine and move its embassy to Jerusalem.

''Fitna''

''Fitna'' is a 2008 short film written and commissioned by Wilders that explores Koranic-inspired motivations for terrorism, Islamic universalism, and Islam in the Netherlands. Its title comes from the Arabic word ''fitna'', which describes "disagreement and division among people" or a "test of faith in times of trial".

It is the subject of an international controversy and debate on free speech. Despite the legal troubles surrounding the film, Wilders insists that before he released it, he consulted numerous lawyers in the field, who found nothing worth prosecution. Jordan has summoned Wilders to court, with the film deemed to "incite hatred". Militant Sunni Islamist group Al-Qaeda issued a call to murder Wilders after its release.

In the spring of 2009, Wilders launched the "Facing Jihad World Tour", a series of screenings of ''Fitna'' to public officials and influential organizations around the globe, starting in Rome. In the United States, Wilders showed the film to the United States Congress on 26 February having been invited by Arizona Republican Senator Jon Kyl. Around 40 people attended the screening. American Muslims protested, but the groups said that they supported his right of free speech while still condemning his opinions. Wilders spoke at the Conservative Political Action Conference on 28 February. He appeared before the National Press Club and the Republican Jewish Coalition that week as well. Similar attempts in Britain led to a travel ban, and legislative blocks have prevented an appearance in Denmark.

Wilders and the United Kingdom

Ban on entering the United Kingdom

Lord Pearson of Rannoch and Baroness Cox, members of the House of Lords (the upper chamber of the British Parliament), invited Wilders to a 12 February 2009 showing of ''Fitna'' in the Palace of Westminster. Two days before the showing, Home Secretary Jacqui Smith banned Wilders from entering the territory of the United Kingdom, labelling him an "undesirable person". Entry was denied under EU law, and reportedly supported under regulation 19 of the Immigration (European Economic Area) Regulations 2006, an EU law which allows a member state to refuse entry to individuals if they are regarded as constituting a threat to public policy, security or health. A Home Office spokesperson elaborated that "The Government opposes extremism in all its forms ... and that was the driving force behind tighter rules on exclusions for unacceptable behaviour that the Home Secretary announced in October last year".

Wilders defied the ban and entered via London Heathrow Airport on 12 February, trailed by television crews. He was quickly detained by Border Patrol officials and sent back on one of the next flights to the Netherlands. He called Prime Minister Gordon Brown "the biggest coward in Europe" and remarked, "Of course I will come back". Wilders had visited the United Kingdom in December 2008 without any problem. Lord Pearson did not support Wilders' decision to defy the government. But in response to the ban, both Pearson and Cox accused the government of "appeasing" militant Islam.

The ''International Herald Tribune'' stated that the ban was broadly condemned in the British news media. The Dutch Foreign Secretary, Maxime Verhagen, called the decision "highly regrettable" and complained to his British counterpart. Dutch Prime Minister Jan Peter Balkenende complained to Gordon Brown about the "disappointing" decision. The Quilliam Foundation, a British think tank, criticised the ban, as did National Secular Society president Terry Sanderson. The Muslim Labour peer Lord Ahmed expressed support for Smith's ban on Wilders entering the country; the Ramadhan Foundation and the Muslim Council of Britain also did so, the council labeling Wilders "an open and relentless preacher of hate".

Ban overturned

After being declared ''persona non grata'' by Jacqui Smith, then the Home Secretary, in February 2009, Wilders appealed the decision to Britain's Asylum and Immigration Tribunal. In October 2009, the tribunal overturned the ban. Wilders subsequently praised the ruling as "a triumph for freedom of speech" and stated that he plans to visit the United Kingdom in the near future.

The ruling was criticized by the British Home Office, which stated that an appeal of the tribunal's ruling is being considered. A spokesman stated:

"The Government opposes extremism in all its forms. The decision to refuse Wilders admission was taken on the basis that his presence could have inflamed tensions between our communities and have led to inter-faith violence. We still maintain this view."

Visits to the UK

On 16 October 2009, Wilders arrived in the United Kingdom and was quickly forced to move his press conference due to protests by about forty members of the organization Islam4UK, an organization that was later shut down under the UK's Terrorism Act 2000 on 14 January 2010. Though the Home Office had asserted that his entry into the country would not be blocked, a spokesman said his "statements and behaviour during a visit will inevitably impact on any future decisions to admit him." His visit to the UK met with protest, but Wilders called it "a victory" in a press conference. On his outspoken views on Islam, he said: "I have a problem with the Islamic ideology, the Islamic culture, because I feel that the more Islam that we get in our societies the less freedom we get." He opened the press conference with a quote from George Orwell's preface to ''Animal Farm'': "If liberty means anything at all, it means the right to tell people what they don't want to hear". Lord Pearson, who had invited him, said his arrival was

"a celebration of the victory of freedom of speech over those who would prevent it in this country, particularly the Islamists, the violent Jihadists who are on the march across the world and in the UK."

In January 2010, Wilders was invited again to show his anti-Quran movie ''Fitna'' in the British House of Lords by Lord Pearson UK Independence Party (UKIP), and Baroness Cox cross-bencher. Wilders accepted the invitation and was present for a presentation of the movie in the House of Lords on 5 March. In his speech he quoted ominous words from Winston Churchill's book ''The River War'' from 1899:

"Mohammedanism is a militant and proselytizing faith. No stronger retrograde force exists in the World. It has already spread throughout Central Africa, raising fearless warriors at every step ... the civilization of modern Europe might fall, as fell the civilization of ancient Rome."

At the ensuing press conferences, he called the prophet Muhammad a "barbarian, a mass murderer, and a pedophile" and referring to Islam as a "fascist ideology" which was "violent, dangerous, and retarded". Wilders also reportedly called Turkish Prime Minister Erdoğan a "total freak". Dutch Prime Minister Jan-Peter Balkenende called these comments "irresponsible", and Maxime Verhagen, Dutch caretaker Minister of Foreign Affairs, publicly condemned Wilders's remarks and behaviour:

"He incites discord among people in a distasteful manner. And in the meantime he damages the interests of the Dutch population and the reputation of the Netherlands in the world."

Bernard Wientjes, the president of the Dutch employers' organization Confederation of Netherlands Industry and Employers (VNO-NCW), also accused Wilders of "seriously" damaging Dutch interests abroad. He called it outrageous that Wilders had presented himself in London as "the next Dutch prime minister" and then derided Turkish Prime Minister Erdoğan. Emphasizing that three quarters of the Dutch GDP comes from revenue earned abroad, according to Wientjes, Wilders poses "a serious threat to the Netherlands and the Dutch economy".

Wilders and Germany

In March 2010, Wilders was told he is "not welcome" in the western German tourist resort of Monschau in the Eifel area, after he spent a weekend there, along with several armed bodyguards. Mayor Margareta Ritter (CDU) said she was concerned that his presence tainted her town with the suspicion that it was sympathetic to his views. As a result, Monschau was said to have been unfairly connected with "extremism" in the European press.

"Anyone who pollutes the integration debate in the Netherlands with poisonous right-wing populism as Wilders has, and advocates prohibition of the Koran by a comparison with Hitler's ''Mein Kampf'', is not welcome in Monschau. I wanted to distinguish Monschau from that."

She was unable to say whether Wilders was merely enjoying a short vacation in her town or had been meeting with like-minded people. A demonstration to support Wilders was announced to take place in Berlin on 17 April.

Other international aspirations

In July 2010, Wilders announced the International Freedom Alliance, a network of groups and individuals who "are fighting for freedom against Islam".

Wilders plans IFA branches in the United States, Canada, Britain, France and Germany by late 2010. "The message, 'stop Islam, defend freedom', is a message that's not only important for the Netherlands but for the whole free Western world", Wilders stated in an address to reporters at the Dutch Parliament.

On 6 August 2010, Wilders, who had become a regular guest with American conservatives and libertarians, announced that he would speak at a rally on 11 September in New York to protest the plans for the Cordoba House, an Islamic community center inclusive Mosque to be built near Ground Zero, organised by Stop Islamization of America, which is supported by a number of conservative US politicians including Newt Gingrich and Sarah Palin. According to SIOA's website world leaders, prominent politicians and 911 family members would be speaking at the rally, but Wilders was not mentioned by name. In political circles in The Netherlands, the announcement caused widespread irritation about his plan. Christian Democrat senator Hans Hillen remarked that Wilders' words could endanger Dutch interests. Former NATO General Secretary Jaap de Hoop Scheffer advised Wilders not to make a speech, arguing that the international public does not know who is in the Dutch cabinet and who is in parliament and thus Wilders' speech could be mistaken as an official statement of the Dutch government. Also Christian Democrat party leader and acting Dutch Minister of Foreign Affairs Maxime Verhagen issued a warning. On 11 September 2010, Wilders was headline speaker at the site of the proposed Cordoba House in New York City.

Also, the Dutch Foreign Ministry allegedly would have issued guidelines to its embassies on how to react to questions about the role being played by the PVV and Wilders in the formation of a new government. On 10 August 2010, the website of Dutch daily newspaper NRC Handelsblad published the ministry memo. The ministry itself however had declined "to confirm or deny" the authenticity of these guidelines. One question posed is how Wilders could be taking part in negotiations on forming a government coalition when he has been indicted for inciting hatred and discrimination, and for insulting a group of persons. Other questions covered possible bans on the building of new mosques, on the Quran and on Islamic schools in the Netherlands. The memo stressed that such bans would breach the Dutch constitution.

Wilders spoke on Thursday 12 May 2011, at Cornerstone Church in Madison, Tennessee, at the Tennessee Freedom Coalition inaugural Signature Series event.

Trial

Several groups and persons in the Netherlands have called for legal action against Wilders, while others have defended his right to free speech. On 15 August 2007, a representative of the Prosecutors' Office in Amsterdam declared that dozens of reports against Wilders had been filed, and that they were all being considered. Attempts to prosecute Wilders under Dutch anti-hate speech laws in June 2008 failed, with the public prosecutor's office stating that Wilders' comments contributed to the debate on Islam in Dutch society and also had been made outside parliament, The office released a statement reading: "That comments are hurtful and offensive for a large number of Muslims does not mean that they are punishable. Freedom of expression fulfils an essential role in public debate in a democratic society. That means that offensive comments can be made in a political debate".

On 21 January 2009, a three-judge court ordered prosecutors to try him.

The Middle East Forum has established a Legal Defence Fund for Wilders's defence. ''The New York Times'' ran an op-ed criticizing his views and arguing that "for a man who calls for a ban on the Koran to act as the champion of free speech is a bit rich", concluding, however that the lawsuit against Wilders might not be "a good thing for democracy", because it made him "look more important than he should be."

A survey by Angus Reid Global Monitor has found that public opinion is deeply split on the prosecution, with 50% supporting Wilders and 43% opposed. However, public support for the Party for Freedom has greatly increased since Wilders' legal troubles began, with the Party for Freedom virtually tied with the People's Party for Freedom and Democracy to be the third most popular party. According to Radio Netherlands, "Dutch politicians themselves seem to be keeping quiet on the issue; they are probably worried that media attention will only serve to make the controversial politician more popular".

In late October 2010, the Dutch court approved a request from Geert Wilders to have new judges appointed forcing the court to retry the case. On 7 February 2011, Wilders returned to the court room in order that his legal team can present evidence from Islamic experts which the court rejected in 2010, including Mohammed Bouyeri, who murdered film-maker Theo van Gogh, and Dutch academic Hans Jansen.

On 23 June 2011, Wilders was acquitted of all charges. A Dutch court noted that his speech was legitimate political debate, but on the edge. Because both the public prosecutor and the defense requested complete acquittal, the verdict will most likely not be appealed.

See also

List of Dutch politicians

Criticism of Islam

Criticism of multiculturalism

Multiculturalism in the Netherlands

Philo-Semitism

Notes

References

Parlement.com biography

External links

Weblog Geertwilders Party for Freedom House of Representatives biography

Biography and writings of Geert Wilders at the Hudson Institute

Collected news and coverage at ''The New York Times''

Writings about Geert Wilders at The Legal Project

'Who is Geert Wilders?' Discussion on Press TV, 18 February 2010

'Backgrounder: Geert Wilders' at Anti-Defamation League, 13 September 2010

Banning Wilders Theodore Dalrymple article in ''FrontPage Magazine'' on Wilders's being barred entry to the UK in 2009

An Article about Geert Wilders and the possible Islamophobia

Category:1963 births Category:Living people Category:Criticism of Islam Category:Critics of the European Union Category:Current leaders of political parties in the Netherlands Category:Dutch activists Category:Dutch agnostics Category:Dutch people of Indonesian descent Category:Dutch politicians Category:Free speech activists Category:Former Roman Catholics Category:Islam in the Netherlands Category:Islam-related controversies Category:Members of the House of Representatives of the Netherlands Category:Opposition to Islam in Europe Category:Party for Freedom Category:Party for Freedom politicians Category:Party leaders of the Party for Freedom Category:People from Venlo Category:People's Party for Freedom and Democracy politicians

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Coordinates	15°48′00″N47°54′00″N
region	Western Economists
Era	20th-century Economists(Austrian Economics)
Color	#B0C4DE
image	MurrayBW.jpg
name	Murray Newton Rothbard
school tradition	Austrian School
Birth date	March 02, 1926
Birth place	Bronx, New York, United States
Death date	January 07, 1995
Death place	New York City, New York, U.S.
School tradition	Austrian School
Main interests	Economics, Political economy, Anarchism, Natural law, Praxeology, Numismatics, Philosophy of law, Ethics, Economic history
Influences	Aristotle, Aquinas, Böhm-Bawerk, La Boétie, Burke, Chodorov, Hayek, Wilder Lane, Laozi, Locke, Mencken, Menger, Mises, Molinari, Nock, Oppenheimer, Rand, Say, Schumpeter, Spencer, Spooner, Tucker, Turgot
Influenced	Hoppe, Rockwell, Konkin, Narveson, Heath, Callahan, Raico, Salerno, Sobran, Stringham, McElroy, Tucker, Bylund, Long, Caplan, Murphy, Lottieri, Woods, Kinsella, Nozick, Molyneux, Thornton, Horton, Raimondo, DiLorenzo, Block, von NotHaus, the Tannehills, Paul, Higgs
Notable ideas	Founder of Anarcho-capitalism }}

Murray Newton Rothbard (March 2, 1926 – January 7, 1995) was an American author and economist of the Austrian School who helped define capitalist libertarianism and popularized a form of free-market anarchism he termed "anarcho-capitalism." Rothbard wrote over twenty books and is considered a centrally important figure in the American libertarian movement.

Building on the Austrian School's concept of spontaneous order, support for a free market in money production and condemnation of central planning, Rothbard advocated abolition of coercive government control of society and the economy. He considered the monopoly force of government the greatest danger to liberty and the long-term well-being of the populace, labeling the State as nothing but a "gang of thieves writ large"—the locus of the most immoral, grasping and unscrupulous individuals in any society.

Rothbard concluded that all services provided by monopoly governments could be provided more efficiently by the private sector. He viewed many regulations and laws ostensibly promulgated for the "public interest" as self-interested power grabs by scheming government bureaucrats engaging in dangerously unfettered self-aggrandizement, as they were not subject to market disciplines. Rothbard held that there were inefficiencies involved with government services and asserted that market disciplines would eliminate them, if the services could be provided by competition in the private sector.

Rothbard was equally condemning of state corporatism. He criticized many instances where business elites co-opted government's monopoly power so as to influence laws and regulatory policy in a manner benefiting them at the expense of their competitive rivals.

He argued that taxation represents coercive theft on a grand scale, and "a compulsory monopoly of force" prohibiting the more efficient voluntary procurement of defense and judicial services from competing suppliers. He also considered central banking and fractional reserve banking under a monopoly fiat money system a form of state-sponsored, legalized financial fraud, antithetical to libertarian principles and ethics. Rothbard opposed military, political, and economic interventionism in the affairs of other nations.

Life and work

Rothbard was born to David and Rae Rothbard, who raised their Jewish family in the Bronx. His father worked as a chemist and migrated to the US from Poland, while his mother came from Russia. "I grew up in a Communist culture," he recalled. He attended Columbia University, where he was awarded a Bachelor of Arts degree in mathematics and economics in 1945 and a Master of Arts degree in 1946. He earned a Doctor of Philosophy degree in economics in 1956 at Columbia under Joseph Dorfman.

During the early 1950s, he studied under the Austrian economist Ludwig von Mises at his seminars at New York University and was greatly influenced by Mises' book ''Human Action''. Rothbard attracted the attention of the William Volker Fund, the main group that supported classical liberal scholars in the 1950s and early 1960s. He began a project to write a textbook to explain Human Action in a fashion suitable for college students; a sample chapter he wrote on money and credit won Mises’s approval. As Rothbard continued his work, he transformed the project. The result, ''Man, Economy, and State'', was a central work of Austrian economics. From 1963 to 1985, he taught at Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn, later to become part of New York University in Brooklyn, New York. From 1986 until his death he was a distinguished professor at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Rothbard founded the Center for Libertarian Studies in 1976 and the ''Journal of Libertarian Studies'' in 1977. He was associated with the 1982 creation of the Ludwig von Mises Institute and later was its academic vice president. In 1987 he started the scholarly ''Review of Austrian Economics'', now called the ''Quarterly Journal of Austrian Economics''.

In 1953 in New York City he married JoAnn Schumacher, whom he called the "indispensable framework" for his life and work. He died in 1995 in Manhattan of a heart attack. The ''New York Times'' obituary called Rothbard "an economist and social philosopher who fiercely defended individual freedom against government intervention."

Austrian School writings

The Austrian School attempts to discover axioms of human action (called "praxeology" in the Austrian tradition). It supports free market economics and criticizes command economies. Influential advocates were Eugen von Böhm-Bawerk, Friedrich Hayek, and Ludwig von Mises. Rothbard argued that the entire Austrian economic theory is the working out of the logical implications of the fact that humans engage in purposeful action. In working out these axioms he came to the position that a monopoly price could not exist on the free market. He also anticipated much of the “rational expectations” viewpoint in economics.

In accordance with his free market views Rothbard argued that individual protection and national defense also should be offered on the market, rather than supplied by government’s coercive monopoly. Rothbard was an ardent critic of Keynesian economic thought as well as the utilitarian theory of philosopher Jeremy Bentham.

In ''Man, Economy, and State'' Rothbard divides the various kinds of state intervention in three categories: "autistic intervention", which is interference with private non-exchange activities; "binary intervention", which is forced exchange between individuals and the state; and "triangular intervention", which is state-mandated exchange between individuals. According to Sanford Ikeda, Rothbard's typology "eliminates the gaps and inconsistencies that appear in Mises's original formulation."

Rothbard also was knowledgeable in history and political philosophy. Rothbard's books, such as ''Man, Economy, and State'', ''Power and Market'', ''The Ethics of Liberty'', and ''For a New Liberty'', are considered by some to be classics of natural law and libertarian thought, combining libertarian natural rights philosophy, anti-government anarchism and a free market perspective in analyzing a range of contemporary social and economic issues. He also possessed extensive knowledge of the history of economic thought, studying the pre-Adam Smith free market economic schools, such as the Scholastics and the Physiocrats and discussed them in his unfinished, multi-volume work, ''An Austrian Perspective on the History of Economic Thought''.

Rothbard writes in ''Power and Market'' that the role of the economist in a free market is limited, but the role and power of the economist in a government which continually intervenes in the market expands, as the interventions trigger problems which require further diagnosis and the need for further policy recommendations. Rothbard argues that this simple self-interest prejudices the views of many economists in favor of increased government intervention.

Rothbard also created "Rothbard's law" that "people tend to specialize in what they are worst at. Henry George, for example, is great on everything but land, so therefore he writes about land 90% of the time. Friedman is great except on money, so he concentrates on money."

Political views

Rothbard "was the leading theorist of radical Lockean libertarianism combined with Austrian economics, which demonstrates that free markets produce widespread prosperity, social cooperation, and economic coordination without monopoly, depression, or inflation—evils whose roots are to be found in government intervention." He "combined the ''laissez-faire'' economics of his teacher Ludwig von Mises with the absolutist views of human rights and rejection of the state he had absorbed from studying the individualist American anarchists of the nineteenth century such as Lysander Spooner and Benjamin Tucker." He connected these to more modern views, writing: "There is, in the body of thought known as 'Austrian economics', a scientific explanation of the workings of the free market (and of the consequences of government intervention in that market) which individualist anarchists could easily incorporate into their political and social Weltanschauung."

Rothbard opposed what he considered the overspecialization of the academy and sought to fuse the disciplines of economics, history, ethics, and political science to create a "science of liberty." Rothbard described the moral basis for his anarcho-capitalist position in two of his books: ''For a New Liberty'', published in 1972, and ''The Ethics of Liberty'', published in 1982. In his ''Power and Market'' (1970), Rothbard describes how a stateless economy might function.

Self-ownership

In ''The Ethics of Liberty'', Rothbard asserts the right of total self-ownership, as the only principle compatible with a moral code that applies to every person—a "universal ethic"—and that it is a natural law by being what is naturally best for man. He believed that, as a result, individuals owned the fruits of their labor. Accordingly, each person had the right to exchange his property with others. He believed that if an individual mixes his labor with unowned land then he is the proper owner, and from that point on it is private property that may only exchange hands by trade or gift. He also argued that such land would tend not to remain unused unless it makes economic sense to not put it to use.

Anti-Egalitarianism

The title essay of Murray Rothbard’s 1974 book ''Egalitarianism as a Revolt Against Nature and Other Essays'' held that “Equality is not in the natural order of things, and the crusade to make everyone equal in every respect (except before the law) is certain to have disastrous consequences.” In it Rothbard wrote, “At the heart of the egalitarian left is the pathological belief that there is no structure of reality; that all the world is a tabula rasa that can be changed at any moment in any desired direction by the mere exercise of human will.” Rothbard also expressed his views that statists suppressed academic research on race in order to support their goal of using the state to enforce egalitarian goals.

In a 1963 article called the “Negro revolution” Rothbard wrote that “the Negro Revolution has some elements that a libertarian must favor, others that he must oppose. Thus, the libertarian opposes compulsory segregation and police brutality, but also opposes compulsory integration and such absurdities as ethnic quota systems in jobs.” According to Rothbard biographer Justin Raimondo, Rothbard considered Malcolm X to be a “great black leader” and Martin Luther King to be favored by whites because he “was the major restraining force on the developing Negro revolution.” Rothbard also compared U.S. President Lyndon Baines Johnson’s use of troops to crush urban rioters in 1968 after King’s assassination to Johnson’s use of American troops against the Vietnamese.

Children and rights

In the ''Ethics of Liberty'' Rothbard explores in terms of self-ownership and contract several contentious issues regarding children's rights. These include women's right to abortion, proscriptions on parents aggressing against children once they are born, and the issue of the state forcing parents to care for children, including those with severe health problems. He also holds children have the right to "run away" from parents and seek new guardians as soon as they are able to choose to do so. He suggested parents have the right to put a child out for adoption or even sell the rights to the child in a voluntary contract, which he feels is more humane than artificial governmental restriction of the number of children available to willing and often superior parents. He also discusses how the current juvenile justice system punishes children for making "adult" choices, removes children unnecessarily and against their will from parents, often putting them in uncaring and even brutal foster care or juvenile facilities.

Anarcho-capitalism

Rothbard began to consider himself a private property anarchist in the 1950s and later began to use "anarcho-capitalist". He wrote: "Capitalism is the fullest expression of anarchism, and anarchism is the fullest expression of capitalism." In his anarcho-capitalist model, a system of protection agencies compete in a free market and are voluntarily supported by consumers who choose to use their protective and judicial services. Anarcho-capitalism would mean the end of the state monopoly on force.

Rothbard was equally condemning of relationships he perceived between big business and big government. He cited many instances where business elites co-opted government's monopoly power so as to influence laws and regulatory policy in a manner benefiting them at the expense of their competitive rivals. He wrote in criticism of Ayn Rand's "misty devotion to the Big Businessman" that she: "is too committed emotionally to worship of the Big Businessman-as-Hero to concede that it is precisely Big Business that is largely responsible for the twentieth-century march into aggressive statism..." According to Rothbard, one example of such cronyism included grants of monopolistic privilege the railroads derived from sponsoring so-called conservation laws.

Free market money

:''See also Free banking and Gold standard'' Rothbard believed the monopoly power of government over the issuance and distribution of money was inherently destructive and unethical. The belief derived from Ludwig von Mises and Friedrich Hayek's Austrian theory of the business cycle, which holds that undue credit expansion inevitably leads to a gross misallocation of capital resources, triggering unsustainable credit bubbles and, eventually, economic depressions. He therefore strongly opposed central banking and fractional reserve banking under a fiat money system, labeling it as "legalized counterfeiting" or a form of institutionalized embezzlement and therefore inherently fraudulent. He characterized the government-enforced prohibition on citizens using commodity currencies as legal tender a compulsory Ponzi scheme, one from which no citizen could escape.

He strongly advocated full reserve banking ("100 percent banking") and a voluntary, nongovernmental gold standard or, as a second best solution, free banking (which he also called "free market money").

In relation to the current central bank-managed fractional reserve fiat currency system, he stated the following:

Noninterventionism

Believing like Randolph Bourne that "war is the health of the state", Rothbard opposed aggressive foreign policy. He criticized imperialism and the rise of the American empire which needed war to sustain itself and to expand its global control. His dislike of U.S. imperialism even led him to eulogize and lament the CIA-assisted execution of Marxist revolutionary Che Guevara in 1967, proclaiming that "his enemy was our enemy". Rothbard believed that stopping new wars was necessary and knowledge of how government had seduced citizens into earlier wars was important. Two essays expanded on these views "War, Peace, and the State" and "The Anatomy of the State". Rothbard used insights of the elitism theorists Vilfredo Pareto, Gaetano Mosca, and Robert Michels to build a model of state personnel, goals, and ideology. In an obituary for historian Harry Elmer Barnes, Rothbard explained why historical knowledge is important:

Rothbard discussed his views on the principles of a libertarian foreign policy in a 1973 interview: "minimize State power as much as possible, down to zero, and isolationism is the full expression in foreign affairs of the domestic objective of whittling down State power." He further called for "abstinence from any kind of American military intervention and political and economic intervention." In ''For a New Liberty'' he writes: "In a purely libertarian world, therefore, there would be no 'foreign policy' because there would be no States, no governments with a monopoly of coercion over particular territorial areas."

In "War Guilt in the Middle East" Rothbard details Israel's "aggression against Middle East Arabs," confiscatory policies and its "refusal to let these refugees return and reclaim the property taken from them." Rothbard also criticized the “organized Anti-Anti-Semitism” that critics of the state of Israel have to suffer. Rothbard criticized as terrorism the actions of the United States, Israel, and any nation that "retaliates" against innocents because they cannot pinpoint actual perpetrators. He held that no retaliation that injures or kills innocent people is justified, writing "Anything else is an apologia for unremitting and unending mass murder."

Political activism

As a young man, Rothbard considered himself part of the Old Right, an anti-statist and anti-interventionist branch of the U.S. Republican party. in the 1948 presidential election, Rothbard, "as a Jewish student at Columbia, horrified his peers by organizing a Students for Strom Thurmond chapter, so staunchly did he believe in states’ rights." When interventionist cold warriors of the ''National Review'', such as William F. Buckley, Jr., gained influence in the Republican party in the 1950s, Rothbard quit the party, walking out for good when moderate Dwight Eisenhower defeated Old Right stalwart Robert A. Taft for the 1952 Republican presidential nomination. He would go on to support Democrat Adlai Stevenson in that year's election, "largely as the only way to get the Wall Street incubus off the back of the Republican Party." After Rothbard died, Buckley wrote a bitter obituary in the ''National Review'' criticizing Rothbard's "defective judgment" and views on the Cold War.

During the late 1950s, Rothbard was an associate of Ayn Rand and her philosophy, Objectivism, along with other students of Ludwig von Mises, such as George Reisman. According to Rand biographer Jennifer Burns, Rothbard was introduced to both Aristotelian epistemology and the "whole field" of natural rights through his discussions with Rand, and, at one time, described Rand's novel, ''Atlas Shrugged'', as "not merely the greatest novel ever written, it is one of the very greatest books ever written, fiction or nonfiction." Later, however, he left her circle and lampooned their relationship in his fictionalized play ''Mozart Was a Red''.

By the late 1960s, Rothbard's "long and winding yet somehow consistent road had taken him from anti-New Deal isolationist Robert Taft supporter into friendship with the quasi-pacifist Nebraska Republican Congressman Howard Buffett (father of Warren Buffett) then over to the League of (Adlai) Stevensonian Democrats and, by 1968, into tentative comradeship with the anarchist factions of the New Left." Rothbard advocated an alliance with the New Left anti-war movement, on the grounds that the conservative movement had been completely subsumed by the statist establishment. However, Rothbard later criticized the New Left for supporting a "People's Republic" style draft. It was during this phase that he associated with Karl Hess and founded ''Left and Right: A Journal of Libertarian Thought'' with Leonard Liggio and George Resch, which existed from 1965 to 1968. From 1969 to 1984 he edited ''The Libertarian Forum'', also initially with Hess (although Hess's involvement ended in 1971).

Rothbard criticized the "frenzied nihilism" of left-wing libertarians, but also criticized right-wing libertarians who were content to rely only on education to bring down the state; he believed that libertarians should adopt any non-immoral tactic available to them in order to bring about liberty.

During the 1970s and 1980s, Rothbard was active in the Libertarian Party. He was frequently involved in the party's internal politics. He was one of the founders of the Cato Institute, and "came up with the idea of naming this libertarian think tank after ''Cato’s Letters'', a powerful series of British newspaper essays by John Trenchard and Thomas Gordon which played a decisive influence upon America’s Founding Fathers in fomenting the Revolution."

From 1978 to 1983, he was associated with the Libertarian Party Radical Caucus, allying himself with Justin Raimondo, Eric Garris and Williamson Evers. He opposed the "low tax liberalism" espoused by 1980 Libertarian Party presidential candidate Ed Clark and Cato Institute president Edward H Crane III. According to Charles Burris, "Rothbard and Crane became bitter rivals after disputes emerging from the 1980 LP presidential campaign of Ed Clark carried over to strategic direction and management of Cato." Rothbard split with the Radical Caucus at the 1983 national convention over cultural issues, and aligned himself with what he called the "right-wing populist" wing of the party, notably Lew Rockwell and Ron Paul, who ran for President on the Libertarian Party ticket in 1988 and in the 2008 Republican Party Primaries. "Rothbard worked closely with Lew Rockwell (joined later by his long time friend Burt Blumert) in nurturing the Ludwig von Mises Institute, and the publication, ''The Rothbard-Rockwell Report''; which after Rothbard’s 1995 death evolved into the popular website, ''LewRockwell.com''."

In 1989, Rothbard left the Libertarian Party and began building bridges to the post-Cold War anti-interventionist right, calling himself a paleolibertarian. He was the founding president of the conservative-libertarian John Randolph Club and supported the presidential campaign of Pat Buchanan in 1992, saying "with Pat Buchanan as our leader, we shall break the clock of social democracy." However, later he became disillusioned and said Buchanan developed too much faith in economic planning and centralized state power.

According to Lew Rockwell, Rothbard is considered the "dean of the Austrian School of economics, the founder of libertarianism, and an exemplar of the Old Right".

Personal life

In addition to economics, history, and philosophy, Rothbard took an intense personal interest in chess, German Baroque church architecture, and early jazz, among other subjects. Rothbard criticized the "degeneration" of jazz and popular song into bebop and rock music.

In his film reviews (printed under the pen name "Mr. First Nighter"), Rothbard criticized "slow, ponderous, boring" films which "reek of pretension and deliberate boredom," such as ''Juliet of the Spirits'' and ''The Piano''. He generally praised films which represented "Old Culture" values which he felt were exemplified by the James Bond franchise: "marvelous plot, exciting action, hero vs. villains, spy plots, crisp dialogue and the frank enjoyment of bourgeois luxury and fascinating technological gadgets."

Rothbard enjoyed action movies such as ''The Fugitive'' and Hollywood films of the 1930s and 40s, and praised Woody Allen's wit. He disliked ''Star Wars'', "such a silly, cartoony, comic-strip movie that no one can possibly take it seriously," and ''2001: A Space Odyssey'', a "pretentious, mystical, boring, plotless piece of claptrap," calling for a return to science fiction films like ''It Came from Outer Space'' and "the incomparable ''Invasion of the Body Snatchers''."

Bibliography

''Man, Economy, and State'' (Full Text; ISBN 0-945466-30-7) (1962)

''The Panic of 1819'' (Full Text). 1962, 2006 edition: ISBN 1-933550-08-2.

''America's Great Depression''. (Full Text) ISBN 0-945466-05-6. (1963, 1972, 1975, 1983, 2000)

''What Has Government Done to Our Money?'' (Full Text / Audio Book) ISBN 0-945466-44-7. (1963)

''Economic Depressions: Causes and Cures'' (Full Text) (1969)

''Power and Market: Government and the Economy'' (Full Text). ISBN 1-933550-05-8. (1970) (restored to ''Man, Economy, and State'' ISBN 0-945466-30-7, 2004)

''Education: Free and Compulsory'' (Full Text). ISBN 0-945466-22-6. (1972)

''Left and Right, Selected Essays 1954-65'' (1972)

''For a New Liberty: The Libertarian Manifesto'' (Full text / Audio book) ISBN 0-945466-47-1. (1973, 1978)

''The Essential von Mises'' (1973)

''The Case for the 100 Percent Gold Dollar''. ISBN 0-945466-34-X. (Full Text / Audio Book) (1974)

''Egalitarianism as a Revolt Against Nature and Other Essays'' ISBN 0-945466-23-4. (1974)

''Conceived in Liberty'' (4 vol.) ISBN 0-945466-26-9. (1975–79)

''Individualism and the Philosophy of the Social Sciences''. ISBN 0-932790-03-8. (1979)

''The Ethics of Liberty'' (Full Text / Audio Book) ISBN 0-8147-7559-4. (1982)

''The Mystery of Banking'' ISBN 0-943940-04-4. (1983)

''Ludwig von Mises: Scholar, Creator, Hero''. . (1988)

''Freedom, Inequality, Primitivism, and the Division of Labor''. Full text (included as Chapter 16 in ''Egalitarianism'' above) (1991)

''The Case Against the Fed'' ISBN 0-945466-17-X. (1994)

''An Austrian Perspective on the History of Economic Thought'' (2 vol.) ISBN 0-945466-48-X. (1995)

''Wall Street, Banks, and American Foreign Policy''. (Full Text) with an introduction by Justin Raimondo. (1995)

''Making Economic Sense''. ISBN 0-945466-18-8. (1995, 2006)

''Logic of Action'' (2 vol.) ISBN 1-85898-015-1 and ISBN 1-85898-570-6. (1997, reprinted as ''Economic Controversies'' in 2011)

''The Austrian Theory of the Trade Cycle and Other Essays''. ISBN 0-945466-21-8. (also by Mises, Hayek, & Haberler)

''Irrepressible Rothbard: The Rothbard-Rockwell Report Essays of Murray N. Rothbard''. (Full Text.) (Preface by JoAnn Rothbard) (Introduction by Lew Rockwell.) ISBN 1-883959-02-0. (2000)

''A History of Money and Banking in the United States''. ISBN 0-945466-33-1. (2002)

''The Complete Libertarian Forum'' (2 vol.) (Full Text) ISBN 1-933550-02-3. (1969–84; 2006)

''The Betrayal of the American Right'' ISBN 978-1-933550-13-8 (2007)

''Rothbard vs. the Philosophers'' edited with an introduction by Roberta Modugno ISBN 978-1-9335504-66 (2009)

''Strictly Confidential'' edited by David Gordon (2010)

See also

American philosophy

List of American philosophers

Notes

Further reading

Doherty, Brian. ''Radicals for Capitalism: A Freewheeling History of the Modern American Libertarian Movement''. PublicAffairs. 2007. ISBN 1-58648-350-1

Gordon, David. ''The Essential Rothbard'', Ludwig von Mises Institute, 1st edition. February 26, 2007. ISBN 1-933550-10-4

Raimondo, Justin. ''An Enemy of the State: The Life of Murray N. Rothbard''. Prometheus Books. July 2000. ISBN 1-57392-809-7

External links

Murray Rothbard at Mises Wiki

Murray N. Rothbard by David Gordon; also includes links to audio clips of Rothbard and the complete text of several books.

Ludwig Von Mises YouTube page including several Rothbard videos

Murray N. Rothbard Library and Resources

Murray N. Rothbard Media Archive at Mises.org

BlackCrayon.com: People: Murray Rothbard

Chronological Bibliography of Murray Rothbard

The Complete Archives of The Libertarian Forum, written about twice a month between 1969 and 1984.

''Sociology of the Ayn Rand Cult'' (pamphlet published by the Center for Libertarian Studies)

"It Usually Ends With Ed Crane" - Rothbard's story of what happened with Ed Crane, the CATO institute and the Libertarian party

A 1972 ''New Banner'' interview with Murray Rothbard

A 1990 interview with Murray Rothbard

Why Hans-Hermann Hoppe considers Rothbard the key Austro-libertarian intellectual

Murray N. Rothbard, The Origins of the Federal Reserve, The Quarterly Journal of Austrian Economics vol. 2, no. 3 (Fall 1999): 3 – 51

Remembering Rothbard: Antiwar Archive, selection of online articles by Rothbard, on foreign policy

Murray Rothbard Institute, Belgium

Murray N. Rotbard, Left and Right: The Prospects for Liberty, "Left and Right: A Journal of Libertarian Thought," Spring 1965.

Murray N. Rothbard, Newt Gingrich is No Libertarian, ''Washington Post'', Friday, December 30, 1994; Page A17. (Rothbard's last newspaper column, before his death)

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Coordinates	15°48′00″N47°54′00″N
Character name	Captain America
Converted	y
Alter ego	Steven "Steve" Rogers
Publisher	Marvel Comics
Debut	''Captain America Comics'' #1 (March 1941)
Creators	Joe SimonJack Kirby
Alliances	Illuminati"Secret Avengers" (Civil War)AvengersInvadersAll-Winners SquadSecret DefendersS.H.I.E.L.D.Project: RebirthU.S. ArmyRedeemersNew AvengersSecret Avengers
Aliases	Nomad, The Captain, Brett Hendrick, Roger Stevens, Weapon I
Partners	Bucky (James Barnes)FalconNomad (Monroe)Bucky (Rick Jones)Free SpiritJack FlagBucky (Rikki)Demolition ManSharon Carter
Supports
Powers	Physical attributes enhanced to peak of human potentialExpert martial artist and hand-to-hand combatantAll-terrain acrobaticsMaster tactician and field commanderVibranium-steel alloy shield
Cat	super
Subcat	Marvel Comics
Hero	y
Sortkey	Captain America }}

Captain America is a fictional character, a superhero that appears in comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character first appeared in ''Captain America Comics'' #1 (March 1941), from Marvel Comics' 1940s predecessor, Timely Comics, and was created by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby. Over the years, an estimated 210 million copies of "Captain America" comic books have been sold in a total of 75 countries. For nearly all of the character's publication history, Captain America was the alter ego of Steve Rogers, a frail young man who was enhanced to the peak of human perfection by an experimental serum in order to aid the United States war effort. Captain America wears a costume that bears an American flag motif, and is armed with an indestructible shield that can be thrown as a weapon.

An intentionally patriotic creation who was often depicted fighting the Axis powers of World War II, Captain America was Timely Comics' most popular character during the wartime period. After the war ended, the character's popularity waned and he disappeared by the 1950s aside from an ill-fated revival in 1953. Captain America was reintroduced during the Silver Age of comics when he was revived from suspended animation by the superhero team the Avengers in ''The Avengers'' #4 (March 1964). Since then, Captain America has often led the team, as well as starring in his own series.

Steve Rogers was purportedly assassinated in ''Captain America'' vol. 5, #25 (March 2007), although he was later revealed to be alive. The comic-book series ''Captain America'' continued to be published, with Rogers' former sidekick, James "Bucky" Barnes, having taken up the mantle, and keeping it at the insistence of Rogers, who upon his return began operating as an intelligence agent in the ''Secret Avengers'' title, and in the limited series ''Steve Rogers: Super Soldier''.

Captain America was the first Marvel Comics character adapted into another medium with the release of the 1944 movie serial ''Captain America.'' Since then, the character has been featured in several other films and television series, including ''Captain America: The First Avenger,'' released on July 22, 2011. Captain America was ranked 6th on IGN's Top 100 Comic Book Heroes in 2011.

Publication history

In 1940, writer Joe Simon conceived the idea for Captain America and made a sketch of the character in costume . "I wrote the name 'Super American' at the bottom of the page," Simon said in his autobiography. "No, it didn't work. There were too many 'Supers' around. 'Captain America' had a good sound to it. There weren't a lot of captains in comics. It was as easy as that. The boy companion was simply named Bucky, after my friend Bucky Pierson, a star on our high school basketball team."

Simon recalled in his autobiography that Timely Comics publisher Martin Goodman gave him the go-ahead from and directed that a Captain America solo comic book series be published as soon as possible. Needing to fill a full comic with primarily one character's stories, Simon did not believe that his regular creative partner, artist Jack Kirby, could handle the workload alone:

Al Liederman would ink that first issue, which was lettered by Simon and Kirby's regular letterer, Howard Ferguson.

Simon said Captain America was a consciously political creation; he and Kirby were morally repulsed by the actions of Nazi Germany in the years leading up to the United States' involvement in World War II and felt war was inevitable: "The opponents to the war were all quite well organized. We wanted to have our say too."

''Captain America Comics'' #1 — cover-dated March 1941 and on sale in December 1940, a year before the attack on Pearl Harbor, but a full year into World War II — showed the protagonist punching Nazi leader Adolf Hitler in the jaw — sold nearly one million copies. While most readers responded favorably to the comic, some took objection. Simon noted, "When the first issue came out we got a lot of... threatening letters and hate mail. Some people really opposed what Cap stood for." Though preceded as a "patriotically themed superhero" by MLJ's The Shield, Captain America immediately became the most prominent and enduring of that wave of superheroes introduced in American comic books prior to and during World War II. With his sidekick Bucky, Captain America faced Nazis, Japanese, and other threats to wartime America and the Allies. Stanley Lieber, now better known by his pen name Stan Lee, contributed to the character in issue #3 in the filler text story "Captain America Foils the Traitor's Revenge," which introduced the character's use of his shield as a returning throwing weapon. Captain America soon became Timely's most popular character and even had a fan-club called the "Sentinels of Liberty."

Circulation figures remained close to a million copies per month after the debut issue, which outstripped even the circulation of news magazines like ''Time'' during the period. After the Simon and Kirby team moved to DC in late 1941, having produced ''Captain America Comics'' through issue #10 (January 1942), Al Avison and Syd Shores became regular pencillers of the celebrated title, with one generally inking over the other. The character was also featured in ''All Winners Comics'' #1-19 (Summer 1941 – Fall 1946), ''Marvel Mystery Comics'' #80-84 and #86-92, ''USA Comics'' #6-17 (Dec. 1942 – Fall 1945), and ''All Select Comics'' #1-10 (Fall 1943 – Summer 1946).

In the post-war era, with the popularity of superheroes fading, Captain America led Timely's first superhero team, the All-Winners Squad, in its two published adventures, in ''All Winners Comics'' #19 and #21 (Fall–Winter 1946; there was no issue #20). After Bucky was shot and wounded in a 1948 ''Captain America'' story, he was succeeded by Captain America's girlfriend, Betsy Ross, who became the superheroine Golden Girl. ''Captain America Comics'' ended with issue #75 (Feb. 1950), by which time the series had been titled ''Captain America's Weird Tales'' for two issues, with the finale being a horror/suspense anthology issue with no superheroes.

Atlas Comics attempted to revive its superhero titles when it reintroduced Captain America, along with the original Human Torch and the Sub-Mariner, in ''Young Men'' #24 (Dec. 1953). Billed as "Captain America, Commie Smasher!" Captain America appeared during the next year in ''Young Men'' #24-28 and ''Men's Adventures'' #27-28, as well as in issues #76-78 of an eponymous title. Atlas' attempted superhero revival was a commercial failure, and the character's title was canceled with ''Captain America'' #78 (Sept. 1954).

Silver Age revival

In the Human Torch story titled "Captain America" in Marvel Comics' ''Strange Tales'' #114 (Nov. 1963), writer-editor Stan Lee and artist and co-plotter Jack Kirby depicted the brash young Fantastic Four member Johnny Storm, the Human Torch, in an exhibition performance with Captain America, described as a legendary World War II and 1950s superhero who has returned after many years of apparent retirement. The 18-page story ends with this Captain America revealed as an impostor: it was actually the villain the Acrobat, a former circus performer the Torch had defeated in ''Strange Tales'' #106, who broke two thieves out of jail, hoping to draw the police away while trying to rob the local bank. Afterward, Storm digs out an old comic book in which Captain America is shown to be Steve Rogers. A caption in the final panel says this story was a test to see if readers would like Captain America to return.

Captain America was then formally reintroduced in ''The Avengers'' #4 (March 1964), which explained that in the final days of WWII, he had fallen from an experimental drone plane into the North Atlantic Ocean and spent decades frozen in a block of ice in a state of suspended animation. He quickly became leader of that superhero team. Following the success of other Marvel characters introduced during the 1960s, Captain America was recast as a hero "haunted by past memories, and trying to adapt to 1960s society."

After then guest-starring in the feature "Iron Man" in ''Tales of Suspense'' #58 (Oct. 1964), Captain America gained his own solo feature in that "split book," beginning the following issue. Kirby, Captain America's co-creator, was illustrating his hero's solo adventures again for the first time since 1941. Issue #63 (March 1965), which retold Captain America's origin, through issue #71 (Nov. 1965) was a period feature set during World War II and co-starred Captain America's Golden Age sidekick, Bucky.

In the 1970s, the post-war versions of Captain America were retconned into separate, successive characters who briefly took up the mantle of Captain America after Steve Rogers went into suspended animation near the end of World War II. The hero found a new generation of readers as leader of the all-star superhero team the Avengers, and in a new solo feature beginning in ''Tales of Suspense'' #59 (Nov. 1964), a "split book" shared with the feature "Iron Man". Kirby drew all but two of the stories in ''Tales of Suspense,'' which became ''Captain America'' with #100 (April 1968); Gil Kane and John Romita, Sr., each filled in once. Several stories were finished by penciller-inker George Tuska over Kirby layouts, with one finished by Romita Sr. and another by penciller Dick Ayers and inker John Tartaglione. Kirby's regular inkers on the series were Frank Giacoia (as "Frank Ray") and Joe Sinnott, though Don Heck and Golden Age Captain America artist Syd Shores inked one story each. The new title ''Captain America'' continued to feature artwork by Kirby, as well as a short run by Jim Steranko, and work by many of the industry's top artists and writers. It was called ''Captain America and the Falcon'' from #134-222 (although the Falcon's name was not on the cover for issues #193, 200, and 216).

This series — considered ''Captain America'' volume one by comics researchers and historians, following the 1940s ''Captain America Comics'' and its 1950s numbering continuation — ended with #454 (Aug. 1996).

After the Silver Age

This series was almost immediately followed by the 13-issue ''Captain America'' vol. 2 (Nov. 1996 – Nov. 1997), the 50-issue ''Captain America'' vol. 3 (Jan. 1998 – Feb. 2002), the 32-issue ''Captain America'' vol. 4 (June 2002 – Dec. 2004), and ''Captain America'' vol. 5 (Jan. 2005 – July 2009). Beginning with the 600th overall issue counting these series, ''Captain America'' resumed its original numbering with issue #600, as if the series numbering had continued uninterrupted after #454.

As part of the aftermath of Marvel Comics' company-crossover storyline "Civil War", Steve Rogers was ostensibly killed in ''Captain America'' vol. 5, #25 (March 2007). Series writer Ed Brubaker remarked, "What I found is that all the really hard-core left-wing fans want Cap to be standing out on and giving speeches on the street corner against the George W. Bush administration, and all the really right-wing fans all want him to be over in the streets of Baghdad, punching out Saddam Hussein." The character's co-creator, Joe Simon, remarked, "It's a hell of a time for him to go. We really need him now." Artist Alex Ross designed a slightly revised Captain America costume that former sidekick Bucky Barnes began to wear as the new Captain America in vol. 5, #34 (March 2008)

The storyline of Rogers' return began in issue #600. Rogers, who was not dead but caroming through time, returned to the present day in the six-issue miniseries ''Captain America: Reborn'' (Sept. 2009 – March 2010).

After Rogers' return, Barnes, at Rogers' insistence, continued as Captain America, beginning in the one-shot comic ''Captain America: Who Will Wield the Shield?'' (Feb. 2010). While Bucky Barnes continued adventuring in the pages of ''Captain America'', Steve Rogers received his own miniseries (''Steve Rogers: Super-Soldier'') as well as taking on the leadership position in a new ''Secret Avengers'' ongoing series.

Spinoff series included ''Captain America Sentinel of Liberty'' (Sept. 1998 – Aug. 1999) and ''Captain America and the Falcon'' (May 2004 – June 2005). The 1940s Captain America appeared alongside the 1940s Human Torch and Sub-Mariner in the 12-issue miniseries ''Avengers/Invaders''. The 2007 mini-series ''Captain America: The Chosen'', written by David Morrell and penciled by Mitchell Breitweiser, depicts a dying Steve Rogers' final minutes, at S.H.I.E.L.D. headquarters, as his spirit guides James Newman, a young American marine fighting in Afghanistan. ''The Chosen'' is not part of the main Marvel Universe continuity.

Fictional character biography

1940s

Steve Rogers was born July 4, 1917, in the Lower East Side of Manhattan, New York City, to Irish immigrants Sarah and Joseph Rogers. Joseph Rogers died when Steve was only a child and his mother, Sarah, died of pneumonia while Steve was a teen. By early 1940, before America's entry into World War II, Rogers is a tall but scrawny fine arts student specializing in illustration. Disturbed by the rise of the Third Reich, Rogers attempts to enlist, only to be rejected due to being in poor shape. U.S. Army General Chester Phillips, looking for test subjects, offers Rogers the chance to serve his country by taking part in a top-secret defense project — Operation: Rebirth, which seeks to develop a means of creating physically superior soldiers. Rogers volunteers for the research and, after a rigorous selection process, is chosen as the first human test subject for the Super-Soldier serum developed by the scientist "Dr. Josef Reinstein", later retroactively changed to a code name for the scientist Abraham Erskine.

That night, Operation: Rebirth is implemented and Rogers receives injections and oral doses of the Super-Soldier Serum. He is then exposed to a controlled burst of "Vita-Rays" that activate and stabilize the chemicals in his system. Although the process is arduous physically, it successfully alters his physiology almost instantly from its relatively frail form to the maximum of human efficiency, greatly enhancing his musculature, reflexes, agility, stamina and intelligence. Erskine declares Rogers to be the first of a new breed of man, a "nearly perfect human being."

The process he underwent has varied from account to account. In the original 1941 story, he was injected with the formula. When the origin was retold in ''Tales of Suspense'' #63, the Comics Code Authority and its prohibitions on demonstrations of drug use were in force, and the injection was replaced with drinking a formula. In ''Captain America'' #109, the Vita-Rays were first introduced, although a dialogue comment preserved continuity by mentioning that he had also drunk the formula beforehand. The retelling of the story in ''Captain America'' #255, however, stated that all three were used in combination. In addition, the limited series, ''The Adventures of Captain America'' reveals that Rogers also underwent rigorous physical training in combat prior to his enhancement.

After the physical transformation, Nazi spy Heinz Kruger reveals himself and shoots Erskine. Because the scientist had committed crucial portions of the Super-Soldier formula to memory, duplicating it perfectly would be unlikely. The spy dies, killed either while running away to escape Rogers or because Rogers threw him into live machinery. In the 1941 origin story and the ''Tales of Suspense'' #63 version, he dies when running into the machinery but is not killed by Rogers; in the ''Captain America'' #109 and #255 revision, however, Rogers causes the spy's death by punching him into the machinery.

The United States government, making the most of its one super-soldier and to hide all information about Operation: Rebirth and its failure, re-imagines him as a superhero who serves as both a counter-intelligence agent and a propaganda symbol to counter Nazi Germany's head of terrorist operations, the Red Skull. To that end, Rogers is given a uniform modeled after the American flag (based on Rogers' own sketches) a bulletproof shield, a personal side arm, and the codename Captain America. He is also given a cover identity as a clumsy infantry private at Camp Lehigh in Virginia. Barely out of his teens himself, Rogers makes friends with the camp's teenage mascot, James Buchanan "Bucky" Barnes.

Barnes accidentally learns of Rogers' dual identity and offers to keep the secret if he can become Captain America's sidekick. Rogers agrees and trains Barnes. Rogers meets President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who presents him with a new shield, forged from an alloy of steel and vibranium, fused by an unknown catalyst. The alloy is indestructible, yet the shield is light enough to use as a discus-like weapon that can be angled to return to him. It proves so effective that Captain America forgoes the sidearm. Throughout World War II, Captain America and Bucky fight the Nazi menace both on their own and as members of the superhero team the Invaders (as seen in the 1970s comic of the same name). Captain America also battles a number of criminal menaces on American soil, including a wide variety of costumed villains: the Wax Man, the Hangman, the Fang, and the White Death, the superhero team the Avengers discovers Steve Rogers' body in the North Atlantic, the Captain's uniform under his soldier's fatigues and still carrying his shield. After he revives, they piece together that Rogers had been preserved in a block of ice since 1945, surviving in such a state only because of his enhancements from Operation: Rebirth. The block had begun to melt after the Sub-Mariner, enraged that an Arctic Inuit tribe is worshiping the frozen figure, throws it into the ocean. Rogers accepts membership in the Avengers, and although long out of his time, his considerable combat experience makes him a valuable asset to the team. He quickly assumes leadership, and has typically returned to that position throughout the team's history.

Captain America is plagued by guilt for having been unable to prevent Bucky's death—a feeling that does not ease for some time. Although he takes the young Rick Jones (who closely resembles Bucky) under his tutelage, he refuses for some time to allow Jones to take up the Bucky identity, not wishing to be responsible for another youth's death. Insisting that his hero finally move on from that loss, Jones eventually convinces Rogers to let him don the Bucky costume, but this partnership lasts only a short time; a disguised Red Skull, impersonating Rogers with the help of the Cosmic Cube, drives Jones away.

Rogers also reunites with his old war comrade Nick Fury, who is similarly well-preserved due to the "Infinity Formula." As a result, Rogers regularly undertakes missions for the security agency S.H.I.E.L.D. for which Fury is public director. Through Fury, Rogers befriends Sharon Carter, a S.H.I.E.L.D. agent, with whom he eventually begins a romantic relationship.

Rogers later meets and trains Sam Wilson, who becomes the superhero the Falcon, the first African-American superhero in mainstream comic books. The characters established an enduring friendship and adventuring partnership, sharing the series title for some time as ''Captain America and the Falcon''. The two later encounter the revived but still insane 1950s Captain America. Although Rogers and the Falcon defeat the faux Rogers and Jack Monroe, Rogers becomes deeply disturbed that he could have suffered his counterpart's fate.

The series also dealt with the Marvel Universe's version of the Watergate scandal, making Rogers so uncertain about his role that he abandons his Captain America identity in favor of one called Nomad, emphasizing the word's meaning as "man without a country". During this time, several men unsuccessfully assume the Captain America identity. Rogers eventually re-assumes it after coming to consider that the identity could be a symbol of American ideals and not its government; it's a personal conviction epitomized when he later confronted a corrupt Army officer attempting to manipulate him by appealing to his loyalty, "I'm loyal to nothing, General... except the [American] Dream." Jack Monroe, cured of his mental instability, later takes up the Nomad alias. During this period, Rogers also temporarily gains super strength. Immediately after witnessing Number One's suicide, he is summoned to the future to participate in the Destiny War between Kang the Conqueror and Immortus (it is revealed over the course of the story that Rogers was selected from this time frame as, had he been taken from any other time period, his strong personality- shaken at this point by the events he had just witnessed- would have dominated the team and deprived them of the flexibility required to succeed in their mission, although his presence alone still brought cohesion to the group). He also learns of the apparent death of Sharon Carter.

1980s to 1990s

The early 1980s included runs from such creators as Roger Stern, John Byrne, and J. M. DeMatteis. Stern had Steve Rogers considers a run for President of the United States in ''Captain America'' #250 (June 1980), and and introduced a new love interest, law student Bernie Rosenthal, in ''Captain America'' #248 (Aug. 1980). Stern also revisited and expanded Captain America's origin story.

DeMatteis revealed the true face and full origin of the Red Skull in ''Captain America'' #298-300, and had Captain America take on Jack Monroe, Nomad, as a partner for a time. It is also around this time that the heroes gathered by the Beyonder elect Rogers as leader during their stay on Battleworld in the 1984 miniseries ''Secret Wars''

Also during the 1980s, Mark Gruenwald wrote 137 issues of the book for 10 consecutive years from 1985 to 1995, the most issues by any single author in the character's history. Gruenwald created several new foes, including Crossbones and the Serpent Society. Other Gruenwald characters included new love interest Diamondback., Super Patriot (who would go on to become a replacement Captain America in a two-year story arc and became USAgent at that arc's conclusion), and some short-lived new partners that included Demolition Man.

Gruenwald explores numerous political and social themes as well, such as extreme idealism when Captain America fights the anti-nationalist terrorist Flag-Smasher; and vigilantism when he hunts the murderous Scourge of the Underworld. Homophobia was also dealt with as Steve Rogers runs into a childhood friend named Arnold Roth who is gay.

Rogers receives a large back-pay reimbursement dating back to his disappearance at the end of World War II, and a government commission orders him to work directly for the U.S. government. Already troubled by the corruption he had encountered with the Nuke incident in New York City, Rogers chooses instead to resign his identity, and then takes the alias of "the Captain". A replacement Captain America, John Walker, struggles to emulate Rogers' ideals until pressure from hidden enemies helps to drive Walker insane. Rogers returns to the Captain America identity while a recovered Walker becomes the U.S. Agent.

Sometime afterward, Rogers avoids the explosion of a methamphetamine lab, but the drug triggers a chemical reaction in the Super-Soldier serum in his system. To combat the reaction, Rogers has the serum removed from his body, and trains constantly to maintain his physical condition.

A retcon later establishes that the serum was not a drug per se, which would have metabolized out of his system, but in fact a virus-like organism that effected a biochemical and genetic change. This additionally explained how arch-nemesis Red Skull, who at the time inhabited a body cloned from Rogers' cells, also has the formula in his body.

Because of his altered biochemistry, Rogers' body begins to deteriorate, and for a time he must wear a powered exoskeleton and is eventually placed again in suspended animation. During this time, he is given a transfusion of blood from the Red Skull, which cures his condition and stabilizes the Super-Soldier virus in his system. Captain America returns both to crime fighting and the Avengers.

Following Gruenwald's departure on the book, Mark Waid took over and resurrected Sharon Carter as Cap's love interest. The book was then relaunched under Rob Liefeld as Cap became part of the Heroes Reborn universe for 13 issues before another relaunch restored Waid to the title in an arc that saw Cap lose his shield for a time using an energy based shield as a temporary replacement. Following Waid's run, Dan Jurgens took over and introduced new foe Protocide, a failed recipient of the Super Soldier serum prior to the experiment that successfully created Rogers.

2000s

Rogers reveals his identity to the world, and establishes a residence in the Red Hook neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York.

Following the events of ''Avengers Disassembled'', again under the employ of S.H.I.E.L.D., Rogers discovers that Bucky is alive, having been saved and deployed by Soviet espionage interests as the Winter Soldier. Rogers also resumes his on-again, off-again relationship with S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Sharon Carter, who, after his death, believes she is pregnant with Steve Rogers' child.

In the 2006-2007 "Civil War" crossover, Captain America opposes mandatory federal registration of all super-powered beings, which he sees as an erosion of civil liberties for the superhero community, and leads the Anti-Registration faction and resistance movement. He becomes a fugitive and opposes the heroes of the Pro-Registration group, including his former friend Iron Man. He adopts the alias "Brett Hendrick", a mall security guard, to avoid government detection. As the War continues, Cap enlists the assistance of several figures with whom he would not choose to ally himself under normal circumstances, such as the Punisher and the Kingpin.

Captain America battles Iron Man during the climactic battle and has victory within his grasp when a group of civilians attempt to restrain him. Rogers realizes that he is endangering the very people he has sworn to protect. He then surrenders to the authorities and orders the Anti-Registration forces to stand down. As Rogers is led away in handcuffs, the Punisher retrieves Captain America's discarded mask.

''The Death of Captain America'' story arc follows his surrender. Steve Rogers is indicted on multiple criminal charges; as he is brought to a federal courthouse, a sniper shoots him in the back. In the chaos that ensues, he is wounded three more times in the stomach and chest by Sharon Carter. Rogers is taken to a hospital, where by all evidence he dies. The assassination, orchestrated by the Red Skull, involves Crossbones as the sniper and Dr. Faustus posing as a S.H.I.E.L.D. psychiatrist, who gives Carter a hypnotic suggestion to shoot Rogers at a crucial moment.

The superhero community is shaken by the assassination. The Punisher temporarily adopts a costume similar to that of Captain America, while Winter Soldier and Wolverine seek to avenge Rogers' death. The Winter Soldier steals Captain America's shield, and the Punisher provides him with the mask from Steve Rogers' uniform. Captain America is publicly laid to rest in Arlington National Cemetery, under a monument built in his honor. The body in Arlington is a fake: Tony Stark, accompanied by Hank Pym and Janet Van Dyne, returns Rogers' body to the Arctic where Rogers had been found years before. Namor attends the small private ceremony and vows no one will disturb the site.

Stark receives a letter containing Rogers' final requests: Stark should "save" Bucky, and that, despite his demise, the world still needs Captain America. Bucky accepts Stark's offer to take on the mantle of Captain America in exchange for a promise of autonomy from Stark. Bucky kept Rogers' trademark shield, but donned a new costume and began carrying a pistol and a knife.

''Captain America: Reborn'' #1 revealed that Rogers did not die; instead, the villainous Red Skull had Sharon Carter use a gun that transported him to a fixed position in space and time. Since then, Captain America had been phasing in and out of space and time, appearing at events in his lifetime and fighting battles. The Red Skull brings Rogers back to the present, where he takes control of Rogers' mind and body. Rogers eventually regains control, and with help from his allies, defeats the Red Skull.

In the one-shot comic ''Captain America: Who Will Wield the Shield?'', taking place after the conclusion to ''Reborn'', Rogers formally hands Bucky his Captain America shield and asks his former sidekick to continue as Captain America. Later, the American President grants Rogers a full pardon for his actions in ''Civil War''.

2010s

Following the company-wide "Dark Reign" and "Siege" story arcs, the Steve Rogers character became part of the "Heroic Age" arc. The U.S. president appoints Rogers, in his civilian identity, as head of the nation's security, replacing Norman Osborn. The Superhuman Registration Act is repealed and Rogers reestablishes the superhero team the Avengers. In the miniseries ''Steve Rogers: Super Soldier'', he encounters Jacob Erskine, the grandson of Professor Abraham Erskine and the son of Tyler Paxton, one of Rogers' fellow volunteers in the Super-Soldier program, the serum in his body being briefly deactivated before Rogers manages to force his enemies to restore it thanks to his combat training allowing him to hold his own despite his weakened physique. Rogers also becomes the leader of the Secret Avengers, a black-ops team that operates under a veil of secrecy.

Marvel stated in May 2011 that Rogers, following the death of Bucky Barnes in the ''Fear Itself'' miniseries, would resume his Captain America identity in a sixth volume of ''Captain America'', by writer Ed Brubaker and artist Steve McNiven.

Powers and abilities

Captain America has no superhuman powers, although as a result of the Super-Soldier Serum and "Vita-Ray" treatment, he is transformed from a frail young man into a "perfect" specimen of human development and conditioning. Captain America's strength, endurance, agility, speed, reflexes, durability, and healing are at the zenith of natural human potential. Rogers' body regularly replenishes the super-soldier serum; it does not wear off.

The formula enhances all of his metabolic functions and prevents the build-up of fatigue poisons in his muscles, giving him endurance far in excess of an ordinary human being. This accounts for many of his extraordinary feats, including bench pressing 1200 pounds (545 kg) and running a mile (1.6 km) in approximately 73 seconds. Furthermore, his enhancements are the reason why he was able to survive being frozen in suspended animation for decades. Rogers cannot become intoxicated by alcohol, drugs, or impurities in the air and is immune to terrestrial diseases. He is also highly resistant to hypnosis or gases that could limit his focus. The secrets of creating a super-soldier were lost with the death of its creator, Dr. Abraham Erskine. However, in the ensuing decades there have been numerous secret attempts to recreate Erskine's treatment, only to have predominantly all end in failure. Even worse, the attempts have instead often created psychopathic supervillains of which Captain America's 1950s imitator and Nuke are the most notorious examples.

Rogers' battle experience and training make him an expert tactician and an excellent field commander, with his teammates frequently deferring to his orders in battle. Rogers' reflexes and senses are also extraordinarily keen. He has blended judo, western boxing, kickboxing, and gymnastics into his own unique fighting style and is a master of multiple martial arts. Years of practice with his indestructible shield make him able to aim and throw it with almost unerring accuracy. His skill with his shield is such that he can attack multiple targets in succession with a single throw or even cause a boomerang-like return from a throw to attack an enemy from behind. In canon, he is regarded by other skilled fighters as one of the best hand-to-hand combatants in the Marvel Universe. Although the super-soldier serum is an important part of his strength, Rogers has shown himself still sufficiently capable against stronger opponents, even when the serum has been deactivated reverting him to his pre-Captain America physique.

Rogers has vast U.S. military knowledge and is often shown to be familiar with ongoing, classified Defense Department operations. He is an expert in combat strategy, survival, acrobatics, military strategy, piloting, and demolitions. Despite his high profile as one of the world's most popular and recognizable superheroes, Rogers also has a broad understanding of the espionage community, largely through his ongoing relationship with S.H.I.E.L.D. He occasionally makes forays into relatively mundane career fields, including commercial arts, comic book artistry, education (high school history), and law enforcement.

Weapons and equipment

Captain America uses several shields throughout his history, the most prevalent of which is a nigh-indestructible disc-shaped shield made from an experimental alloy of steel and the fictional vibranium. The shield was cast by American metallurgist Dr. Myron MacLain, who was contracted by the U.S. government, from orders of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, to create an impenetrable substance to use for tanks during World War II. This alloy was created by accident and never duplicated, although efforts to reverse-engineer it resulted in the discovery of adamantium.

Captain America often uses his shield as an offensive throwing weapon. The first instance of Captain America's trademark ricocheting shield-toss occurs in Stan Lee's first comics writing, the two-page text story "Captain America Foils the Traitor's Revenge" in ''Captain America Comics'' #3 (May 1941).

The legacy of the shield among other comics characters includes the time-traveling mutant superhero Cable telling Captain America that his shield still exists in one of the possible futures; Cable carries it into battle and brandishes it as a symbol.

When without his trademark shield, Captain America sometimes uses other shields made from less durable metals such as steel, or even a photonic energy shield designed to mimic a vibranium matrix. Rogers, having relinquished his regular shield to Barnes, carried a variant of the energy shield which can be used with either arm, and used to either block attacks or as an improvised offensive weapon able to cut through metal with relative ease. Much like his vibranium shield, the energy shield can also be thrown, including ricocheting off multiple surfaces and returning to his hand.

Captain America's uniform is made of a fire-retardant material, and he wears a lightweight, bulletproof "duralumin" scale armor beneath his uniform for added protection. Originally, Rogers' mask was a separate piece of material, but an early engagement had it dislodged, thus almost exposing his identity. To prevent a recurrence of the situation, Rogers modified the mask with connecting material to his uniform, an added benefit of which was extending his armor to cover his previously exposed neck. As a member of the Avengers, Rogers has an Avengers priority card, which serves as a communications device.

Captain America has also used a custom specialized motorcycle, modified by the S.H.I.E.L.D. weapons laboratory, as well as a custom-built battle van, constructed by the Wakanda Design Group with the ability to change its color for disguise purposes (red, white and blue), and fitted to store and conceal the custom motorcycle in its rear section with a frame that allows Rogers to launch from the vehicle riding it.

Enemies

Captain America has faced numerous foes in over 60 years of published adventures. Many of his recurring foes embody ideals contrary to the American values Captain America is shown to strive for and believe. Some examples of these opposing values are Nazism (Red Skull, Baron Zemo), Neo-Nazism (Crossbones, Doctor Faustus), technocratic fascism (AIM, Arnim Zola), Communism (Aleksander Lukin), anarchism (Flag Smasher and Viper), and international and domestic terrorism (HYDRA).

Other versions

In other media

Collected editions

The contents of ''Captain America Comics'' #1-10 were previously published as ''Captain America: The Classic Years'' two hardcover slipcase set in 1990. These were later re-issued as trade paperbacks in the late 1990s once again under the title ''Captain America: The Classic Years'' featuring new cover art by Kevin Maguire re-creating classic covers. Previous editions of ''War and Remembrance'', ''The Bloodstone Hunt'', ''Operation Rebirth'', ''Man Without a Country'', and ''To Serve and Protect'' were released prior to 2010 editions leading up to the Captain America: The First Avenger feature film.

! Title !! Material collected !! ISBN
''Marvel Masterworks Golden Age Captain America Comics, Vol. 1''	''Captain America Comics'' #1-4
''Marvel Masterworks Golden Age Captain America Comics, Vol. 2''	''Captain America Comics'' #5-8
''Marvel Masterworks Golden Age Captain America Comics, Vol. 3''	''Captain America Comics'' #9-12
''Marvel Masterworks Atlas Era Heroes, Vol. 1''	Includes Captain America stories from ''Astonishing'' #3-6, ''Young Men'' #24-28
''Marvel Masterworks Atlas Era Heroes, Vol. 2''	Includes Captain America stories from ''Men's Adventures'' #27-28, ''Captain America Comics'' #76-78
''Essential Captain America, Vol. 1''	''Tales of Suspense'' #59-99; ''Captain America'' #100-102
''Essential Captain America, Vol. 2''	''Captain America'' #103-126
''Essential Captain America, Vol. 3''	''Captain America'' #127-156
''Essential Captain America, Vol. 4''	''Captain America'' #157-186
''Essential Captain America, Vol. 5''	''Captain America'' #187-205, ''Annual'' #3, ''Marvel Treasury Special: Captain America's Bicentennial Battles''
''Essential Captain America, Vol. 6''	''Captain America'' #206-230, ''Annual'' #4; ''Incredible Hulk'' #232
''Captain America and the Falcon: Secret Empire''	''Captain America'' #169-176
''Captain America and the Falcon: Nomad''	''Captain America'' #177-186
''Captain America and the Falcon: Madbomb''	''Captain America'' #193-200
''Captain America: Bicentennial Battles''	''Captain America'' #201-205; ''Bicentennial Battles'' #1
''Captain America and the Falcon: The Swine''	''Captain America'' #206-214, ''Annual'' #3-4
''Captain America: War and Remembrance''	''Captain America'' #247-255
''Captain America: Deathlok Lives''	''Captain America'' #286-288
''Captain America: Scourge of the Underworld''	''Captain America'' #318-320, back-up stories from #358-362; ''USAgent'' #1-4;
''Captain America: The Captain''	''Captain America'' #332-350; ''Iron Man'' #228
''Captain America: The Bloodstone Hunt''	''Captain America'' #357-364
''Captain America: Streets of Poison''	''Captain America'' #372-378
''Avengers: Galactic Storm, Book 1''	''Captain America'' #398-399, ''Avengers West Coast'' #80-81, ''Quasar'' #32-33, ''Wonder Man'' #7-8, ''Avengers'' #345-346, ''Iron Man'' #278 and ''Thor'' #445
''Avengers: Galactic Storm, Book 2''	''Iron Man'' #279, ''Thor'' #446, ''Captain America'' #400-401, ''Avengers West Coast'' #82, ''Quasar'' #34-35, ''Wonder Man'' #9, ''Avengers'' #347, ''What If?'' #55-56
''Captain America: Man and Wolf''	''Captain America'' #402-408
''Captain America: Fighting Chance: Denial''	''Captain America'' #425-430
''Captain America: Fighting Chance: Acceptance''	''Captain America'' #431-437
''Captain America: Operation Rebirth''	''Captain America'' #444-448
''Captain America: Man Without a Country''	''Captain America'' #450-453
''Heroes Reborn: Captain America''	''Captain America'' vol. 2, #1-12
''Captain America: To Serve and Protect''	''Captain America'' vol. 3, #1-7
''Captain America: American Nightmare''	''Captain America'' vol. 3, #8-13, ''Annual 1998''
''Captain America: Red Glare''	''Captain America'' vol. 3, #14-19, ''Captain America Spotlight''
''Captain America: Sentinel of Liberty''	''Captain America: Sentinel of Liberty'' #1-12
''Captain America: The New Deal''	''Captain America'' vol. 4, #1-6
''Captain America: The Extremists''	''Captain America'' vol. 4, #7-11
''Captain America: Ice''	''Captain America'' vol. 4, #12-16
''Captain America: Cap Lives''	''Captain America'' vol. 4, #17-20; ''Tales of Suspense'' #66
''Captain America: Homeland''	''Captain America'' vol. 4, #21-28
''Captain America and the Falcon: Two Americas''	''Captain America and the Falcon'' #1-4
''Avengers Disassembled: Captain America''	''Captain America'' vol. 4, #29-32; ''Captain America and the Falcon'' #5-7
''Captain America and the Falcon: Brothers and Keepers''	''Captain America and the Falcon'' #8-14
''Captain America: Winter Soldier, Book One''	''Captain America'' vol. 5, #1-7
''Captain America: Winter Soldier, Book Two''	''Captain America'' vol. 5, #8-9, #11-14
''Captain America: Red Menace, Book One''	''Captain America'' vol. 5, #15-17; ''Captain America 65th Anniversary Special''
''Captain America: Red Menace, Book Two''	''Captain America'' vol. 5, #18-21
''Captain America: Civil War''	''Captain America'' vol. 5, #22-24; ''Winter Soldier: Winter Kills''
''The Death of Captain America, Vol. 1: The Death of the Dream''	''Captain America'' vol. 5, #25-30
''The Death of Captain America, Vol. 2: The Burden of Dreams''	''Captain America'' vol. 5, #31-36
''The Death of Captain America, Vol. 3: The Man Who Bought America''	''Captain America'' vol. 5, #37-42
''Captain America: The Man with No Face''	''Captain America'' vol. 5, #43-48
''Captain America: Road to Reborn'' (HC)	''Captain America'' #600-601; vol. 5, #49-50
''Captain America: Reborn'' (HC)	''Captain America: Reborn'' #1-6
''Captain America: Two Americas''	''Captain America'' #602-605; ''Who Will Wield the Shield?''
''Captain America: No Escape''	''Captain America'' #606-610
''Steve Rogers: Super Soldier''	''Steve Rogers: Super-Soldier'' #1-4
''Captain America: The Trial of Captain America	''Captain America'' #611-615 and #615.1, and material from CAPTAIN AMERICA 70TH ANNIVERSARY MAGAZINE
''Captain America: Prisoner of War	''Captain America'' #616-619
Miscellaneous
''Captain America: The Legacy of Captain America''	''Captain America Comics'' (1941) #1; ''What If?'' (1977) #4; ''Captain America'' #155, #333; ''Captain America'' vol. 5, #34; material from ''Captain America'' (1968) #178-183	SC:
''Captain America Vs. The Red Skull''	''Captain America Comics'' (1941) #1; ''Tales Of Suspense'' #79-81; and ''Captain America'' #143, #226-227, #261-263 and #370; and material from ''Captain America Annual'' #13 and ''Captain America: Red, White & Blue'' #1''	SC:

References

Further reading

External links

Captain America Library

Captain America: The First Avenger (July 2011)

"Captain America: An all-American hero goes back to his roots" - Aug 2011 review by Sasha Simic

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