---
title: "A bright beacon of liberty has gone dark:  Reason editor and author…"
date: 2026-03-14
source: facebook
type: Archer T. Ships added 4 new photos.
---

# A bright beacon of liberty has gone dark:  Reason editor and author…

*March 14, 2026 · Facebook*

A bright beacon of liberty has gone dark: Reason editor and author Brian Doherty has died.\
\
Cause of death: hiking accident.\
\
I didn\'t know him well, but I have deep admiration and gratitude for his work, as he covered a number topics that are of great importance to me.\
\
Among many other things, he wrote the definitive histories of the modern libertarian movement (Radicals for Capitalism), Burning Man (This Is Burning Man), and the Ron Paul movement (Ron Paul\'s rEVOLution). He also covered the seasteading and the charter cities movements for Reason magazine. (See links below.) On the topics where I have intimate knowledge (seasteading, drugs, cryptocurrency) he was fair, thorough, and evenhanded, never hagiographic nor a hack.\
\
Few men have been as prolific in their defense of liberty. I\'m sad that he has gone from the world.\
\
Below are a few pictures I took of him.

![Brian Doherty on Chicken John\'s New Year\'s Eve hike, 2010](img/2026-03-14-fb-001-img01.webp){style="max-width:100%; margin:1em 0"}

*Brian Doherty on Chicken John\'s New Year\'s Eve hike, 2010*

![Brian Doherty on Chicken John\'s New Year\'s Eve hike, 2010](img/2026-03-14-fb-001-img02.webp){style="max-width:100%; margin:1em 0"}

*Brian Doherty on Chicken John\'s New Year\'s Eve hike, 2010*

![Brian Doherty at the first Ephemerisel, 2009. With Naomi Most.](img/2026-03-14-fb-001-img03.webp){style="max-width:100%; margin:1em 0"}

*Brian Doherty at the first Ephemerisel, 2009. With Naomi Most.*

![Brian Doherty at the first Ephemerisel, 2009](img/2026-03-14-fb-001-img04.webp){style="max-width:100%; margin:1em 0"}

*Brian Doherty at the first Ephemerisel, 2009*
