This is a succinct essay only expanding to about sixty pages. It can be read in 30-40 minutes easily. It’s offered for free on mises.org.

The synopsis is already a letter-perfect summary of what Rothbard’s essay is on. All I can add is I quite enjoyed it because he explains the (USA) government’s predation over time and calls back a few different and interesting historical parallels to further his arguments. From other sources, I’ve seen this to be an introduction to the “anarcho-capitalist” viewpoint which I don’t see myself agreeing with. Nevertheless, it was pleasant reading and opened my mind a bit further to other ideas of what the government is and/or should be.

I’ll end on one of my favorite quotes from it:
“It is evident that the State needs the intellectuals; it is not so evident why intellectuals need the State.”