Sean Gabb is the author of more than forty books and around a thousand shorter works. He also appears on radio and television, and is a notable speaker at conferences and literary festivals in Britain, America, Europe and Asia.

Under the name Richard Blake, he has written eight historical novels for Hodder & Stoughton. These have been translated into Spanish, Italian, Greek, Slovak, Hungarian, Chinese and Indonesian. They have been praised by both The Daily Telegraph and The Morning Star. He has produced another four historical novels for Lume Books, and has written two horror novels for Caffeine Nights.

Under his own name, he has written four novels. His other books are mainly about culture and politics.

He also teaches, mostly at university level, though sometimes in schools and sixth form colleges. His subjects include: Latin, Greek, Classics, History, Law, and Economics. His first degree was in History. His PhD is in English History. From 2006 to 2017 he was Director of the Libertarian Alliance. He presently directs the Centre for Ancient Studies.

He lives in Kent with his wife and daughter.

And, if you want to know any more about him, you will need to start mining this site. Use the drop-down “Posts” items on the menu bar. Or there is the search bar.

Latest Posts

On the Political Cancelation of Bank Accounts (2023), by Sean Gabb

Since I am busier with other matters than I ever thought possible, this will be a short comment. In the past month, we have heard that various rich and well-connected people have had their bank accounts closed, seemingly because of their dissident political opinions. The same has happened to other people who are much poorer and without connections. Twenty years ago, the same happened to the British National Party. There is a simple libertarian response to this. No one has the right to coerced association with anyone else. If someone comes to me and asks me to provide him with services, I have an absolute right to say yes or no. If I am uncharitable enough to dislike the colour of his face or what he does in bed, so… READ MORE

Slavery in the Roman World

This is the text of a lecture given in September 2023. Sean Gabb discusses the nature and extent of slavery in the Roman world. He begins with legal definitions and the attempted justifications by philosophers, then proceeds, via the use of slaves as workers in all occupations, including as sex objects, to the great slave revolts of the Late Republic. There is also a section on the valuation of slaves. READ MORE

Prostitution in the Roman World

Based on a lecture, this book is an overview of the customs and institutions of paid sex in the Roman World. The main focus is on the market for paid sex between the founding of the Empire in the last decades before the birth of Christ, down to the establishment of Christianity as the faith of the Empire, with a brief overview of the shifting views of paid sex by the authorities in the Christian Empire. It involves extensive quotation from legal and literary and other contemporary sources, plus modern research and the archaeology, to provide an overview of a subject that is often harrowing and even disgusting, but that is, or should be, a core unit in any history of the Roman World. Subjects covered include: · Sex slaves… READ MORE

The Cult of Antinous

Antinous died in 130 AD, at about the age of 18. Born in Bithynia, one of the Eastern Provinces of the Roman Empire, he had been, from about the age of eleven, the lover of the Emperor Hadrian. The Emperor was so saddened by his death that he had the boy declared a god, and a regular worship was instituted that continued until the extinction of Paganism at the end of the fourth century. Based on a lecture, this book addresses the following subjects: What were Ancient views of all-male sex? Who was Antinous? How did he die? How widespread was his cult? Why did it persist so long? How was he seen in later ages? The book is of managageable length for anyone who wants an overview of the… READ MORE

Why I Write So Little

Why I Write So Little April 2023 Some years ago, a friend suggested I should copy George Orwell and write something called “Why I Write.” It seemed a reasonable suggestion at the time. I had already written four million words, a quarter of this on politics, and there was something new every couple of days. I refused the suggestion. Explaining why I wrote, I said, would take time away from writing. That was then. In the past year, I have written very little, and almost nothing on politics. Now, feeling a vague duty to say something, I will take up the suggestion, though with an obvious change of title. I began writing about politics early in the 1980s. Even then, I failed to share the optimism of other libertarians. Where… READ MORE

Conversion Therapy: Defending Basic Rights (2022), by Sean Gabb

Conversion Therapy: Defending Basic Rights Sean Gabb (1st February 2022) So far as I understand it, conversion therapy is the attempt, by prayer, by nagging, and by playing with mental associations, to change sexual tastes. It is mostly tried by male Christians who are disturbed by their inclinations. For what it may be worth, my opinion is that, unless they involve non-consensual violence, sexual tastes are trivial things, and no one with an atom of sense would ever wish to change them. I also suspect that attempts at change are generally inadvisable. But, if inadvisable – indeed, even if positively dangerous – there is no reason for the law to be involved in the matter. So long as there is neither force nor fraud, what adults do to themselves, or… READ MORE

The Bruges Group: The Same Old Same Old (2022), by Sean Gabb

The Bruges Group: The Same Old Same Old Sean Gabb (16th January 2022) Before deleting it all, I have just skimmed the contents of my junk folder. One of the messages is from the Bruges Group, and is New Year greetings from the 2nd January. The message from Barry Legg, a former Conservative Member of Parliament begins: Well, we are still waiting to get Brexit done. I should have deleted it all unread. The only effect this has had is to move me to another polemic when I have more productive and nowadays more enjoyable uses of my time. But I did read Mr Legg’s message. Here is my response to it. The premise of the message is that our departure from the European Union was meant by those who… READ MORE

The Flight from Degeneracy (2022), by Sean Gabb

The Flight from Degeneracy Sean Gabb (6th January 2022) Something known to everyone in England connected with independent education is the Oriental takeover of the scholarship system. In all the competitive examinations for bursaries and scholarships, the top marks go increasingly to boys from the Far East. I make part of my income from helping with this takeover. Boys are sent to me when they are twelve. Within six months, they are effortlessly handling Latin subjunctives and Greek aorist participles – handling these for translation into English and for translation out of English. Some of them do this because they must. Many fall in love with the Ancient World and its languages. It is some of the most enjoyable teaching I have ever done, and I plan to do a… READ MORE

Remembering Brian Micklethwait (2021), by Sean Gabb

Remembering Brian Micklethwait: The Man Who Made Libertarianism Fun Obituary by Sean Gabb Published on the 20th October 2021 in The Critic Magazine Brian Hugh Micklethwait was born on the 26th September 1947, the youngest son of Sir Robert Micklethwait, a lawyer of some distinction who rose eventually to the post of Chief National Insurance Commissioner. His mother, Philippa, née Bosanquet, came from a legal family, and was related to the Bosanquets who were important in the Liberal Party at the end of the nineteenth century. Brian attended Marlborough public school in the early 1960s as a boarder, and went up to Cambridge in 1965 to study Architecture. After this, he studied Sociology at Essex University. He voted Labour in the 1970 General Election. By 1980, he was a libertarian.… READ MORE

Shortages and the Class Struggle: A Libertarian View (2021), by Sean Gabb

Shortages and the Class Struggle A Libertarian View Sean Gabb (28th September 2021) There is in the United Kingdom a shortage of lorry drivers. This means a dislocation of much economic activity. Because it cannot be delivered, there is no petrol in the filling stations. Because there are not enough drivers, and a shortage of fuel, we may soon have shortages of food in the shops. Christmas this year may not involve its usual material abundance. These difficulties are wholly an effect of the new political economy that has emerged in England and in many other Western countries since about 1980. An army of managers, of agents, of administrators, of consultants and advisers and trainers, and of other middle class parasites has appropriated a growing share of the national income.… READ MORE