Isabel Paterson
In today's society, the female voice in Politics and the female thought leaders are very often
part of a more radical left movement. But what about all the amazing female's, that are beacons for personal-liberty and individualism?
When you think about the great female minds, that stood up for personal liberty and individualism, who do you think of then?
Only a few people are aware of the amazing individualist and liberty-minded female's such as, Wendy Mcelroy who is a modern-day
libertarian mastermind, Voltairine de Cleyre amazing voice for individualism and freedom, Rose Wilder Lane, Ayn Rand, and a character that is not known by
the majority, Miss Isabel Paterson.
All these characters are very interesting in their own way and should each be studied and wikipedia'd.
The last 3 women all come into a male-dominated scene, which in this case is Writing and Journalism, and flourish beautifully.
Noon of these 3 female characters(including Voltairine de Cleyre) has had any formal education, no Ph.D's, or similar education.
They were hard workers that spend the extra hours, improving their passion for writing.
One of these ladies, is a person who refused welfare and was determined to make it on her own, which she certainly did is Miss Isabel Paterson.
Isabel who? you might ask. Let's shine a light on this mysterious writer.
Isabel Paterson is an amazing author, literary critic, Novelist, columnist and thought leader, mostly known for her books and journalism but also
from being a nobody to becoming one of the most beautiful voices for liberty in modern-time.
The story of Isabel M. Paterson, is an amazing story of a young woman, who grew up in an unsuccessful family on the 1,068 sq mile island of
Manitoulin a bit outside Ontario, Canada.
Our story begins in the late 1800th century.
On the 22nd of January 1886, Isabel Mary Bowler was born.
She grew up in a pretty normal family, with a father, a mother and some siblings.
Like many adventure-seeking teenagers, she left her family home in her teens, and headed to the bigger cities where she could find work.
Doing what she could to earn a living, such as working as a waitress and other similar occupations.
On one of her jobs, she ran into a businessman by the name of Richard Bedford Bennett who introduced her to
politics, which she found very fascinated and she quickly picked up an interest in writing. She managed to teach herself shorthand
and writing.
Time went on and in 1910 at the age of 24, Isabel Bowler married a salesman by the
name of Kenneth Birrell Paterson, becoming Isabel Paterson.
Like the talented sales and marketing man he was, he managed to do a thing every employee does, he sold in himself.
However, as a young woman, relationships could sometimes be tricky and within a few weeks
the relationship broke up and the marriage was off. Luckily Isabel, kept
focusing on herself and her passion for writing.
She went all in and followed her passion and shortly after the break up the sun shined on her
and she landed a couple of writing jobs for various
newspapers in Vancouver and Spokane.
Isabel never got remarried.
One could draw similar parallels to the french free-market economist Frédéric Bastiat, a person who also had
a couple of relationships early on in life that fell down
and then let the most important relationship, the one you have with yourself be in full bloom.
Focused on living a life full of Intellectualism, Passion, work, and other stimulants.
Two voices for laissez-faire capitalism, personal-liberty, individualism, living life in different times, circumstances, and even continents
but sharing the love for intellectualism, work, and living exciting lives doing what they love.
Neither one of them ever got remarried. But they lived fulfilling lives and will always be
heroes for the work that they have done.
Back to Isabel!
She kept her pen very busy, writing dramatic reviews, editorials, and a few short stories.
And in 1916, she published her first book called “Shadow Riders”.
In 1924 she decided to move to the United States of America, to the place dreams come true.
To New York of course! She got a job writing for a weekly newspaper called “New York Herald Tribune”.
Working under the pen name
“IMP”, short for Isabel Mary Paterson. One of the pieces that
boosted her name and publicity was the “Turns With a Bookworm” section she wrote.
Isabel kept on her writings for the newspaper. With strong
political views, that were not always shared by the masses. She stood
up for individualism and limited government, it was her view that the
government should not intervene in the economy and that the purpose
of the government was to protect the rights of the individual.
In the above article, Isabel clearly states that:
The main idea as that the Federal government was to be political,
not economic.. It was to protect human rights from the pressure of
group interests and interferences, not to legislate people into either
piety or prosperity or private morality
Isabel is an advocate for personal liberty, a critic of the welfare state,
a radical individualist, a believer in the original version of the US-Constitution.
She is also one of the first modern-time female voices for the personal liberty idealogy
that we today call “libertarianism”.
1931 was a hard year for Isabel, her best friend Alta May Coleman dies, a talented essay writer.
Ayn Rand
Ayn Rand is one of the many intellectual titans, producing movies, newsletters, books, and a lot more.
Being this young Russian girl who came to the US to seek fame and glory and succeed. One of Hollywood's many successes.
Rand was a bit younger than Isabel but they met each other and became good friends.
Isabel became a rolemodel and a Mentor for Rand.
Ayn Rand even wrote the screenplay for the black and white 1945's movie
called love letters. Which is an interesting movie about a girl
who falls in love with a person's writings. Showing the true power of writing.
A recommended movie to watch on a rainy day.
22 minutes into the movie the main character picks up a wooden
ship and yells “the Golden Vanity”.
Which is a reference to Isabel's novel The Golden Vanity.
The God of the Machine
The God of the Machine, is a bit different from the rest of her books. This is not a Novel or fiction.
It's her intellectual masterpiece. The book truly displays her opinions. A lot of strong liberty-minded female's are Anarchists, Isabel was not. She believed in limited government and thought that the
US constitution solved a lot of problems that the Roman Empire had failed to do. She believed that
society was an engineering problem. We truly recommend reading this book, as it points out a lot of
good points, and is truly an intellectually stimulating reading experience.
Touching subjects such as:
The Roman Empire
Spain
The importance of Private Enterprise
Karl Marx
Isabel opinion about the communist leader Karl Marx was literally
“a fool with a large vocabulary of long words.”
But she does credit him, Thomas More, and Plato for having visions about the future.
Clearly stating that Thomas More, told it like it is. It's a utopia, neither real nor achievable.
Discovery of the US
Isabel points out a great point about the United States of America. America was not discovered by Christopher Columbus, it was found
a long time before by the Norse Viking man by the name of Leif Erikson.
But it wasn't until Columbus came with private enterprise, it got columnized.
The French revolution
Contract law
Currency
The Magna Carta, The US constitution, and a lot more! This book is filled with a lot of goodies and a recommended read!
God of the Machine is Isabel Paterson's most well-known book in the liberty-minded space, an excellent book for the intellectual.
The God of the Machine, paints a clear picture of Isabel's line of thought, a believer in personal liberty, the US constitution, voluntary
agreed-upon social contracts.
Isabel's writings
During her years as a writer, she manages to publish 11 books and has several best sellers!
Her books are:
-
- The Shadow Riders
-
- The Magpie's Nest
-
- The Singing Season
-
- The Fourth Queen
-
- The Road of the Gods
-
- Never Ask the End
This is Isabel's Bestseller, the most consumed book.
The one Novel that reached the mainstream and wide crowd, Never Ask the End is a Novel about two
American ladies in their forties that travel to Europe for Vacation. A very well-written humorous and exciting story
with an excellent ending.
- Never Ask the End
-
- The Golden Vanity
-
- If It Prove Fair Weather
-
- The God of the Machine
Last but not least, her last work “Joyous Gard” was completed in 1958.
Isabel was a very good writer that worked hard and got the fruit for her labor. A true
American dream, of a girl that gets interested in Writing and ends up becoming a
brilliant Novelist and Bestseller. She questioned authority, political systems, and worked
really hard. She is a hero, a writer, and an amazing liberty-minded female.
Twelve days before her 75th birthday, Isabel takes her last breath…
Another great mind is Adam Smith who is probably the most famous economist today and probably tomorrow as well.
Both Adam Smith and Isabel M. Paterson spent their last time before death, working on their next big book.
Adam's work was burned as his last will demanded, while Isabel finished her book, but until this
day it remains unpublished, a stack of papers lying in the Herbert Hoover Presidential Library.
This article could not be possible without the help of the amazing
Stephen Cox!
We thank him for all his work, research, and guidance.
If you have not read his book about Miss Paterson, we recommend that you do so:
LOOK HERE
Are you interested in writing? Got an idea of an intellectually stimulating
topic?
We are working on a hardcopy paper magazine and we want you to write for
it!
Submit your article, by emailing info at this website and be featured in our first publication.
External links:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_York_Herald_Tribune
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isabel_Paterson
https://hoover.archives.gov/research/collections/manuscriptfindingaids/paterson
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republic_(Plato)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Utopia_(book)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_More
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_D._Cox
http://www.libertyunbound.com/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leif_Erikson
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0037885/