Roy Alan Childs, Jr. (January 4, 1949 – May 22, 1992) was a libertarian essayist, lecturer, and critic. Childs became a research associate of the Center for Libertarian Studies in 1977 and edited Libertarian Review until 1981. He was a Cato Institute scholar from 1982 to 1984 and wrote and edited hundreds of book reviews for Laissez Faire Books until his death in 1992. Some of his essays were collected in Liberty against Power. He first came to prominence in the libertarian movement with his 1969 “Open Letter to Ayn Rand,” quickly establishing himself as a major thinker within the libertarian tradition, influenced by Ayn Rand, Ludwig von Mises, Rose Wilder Lane, Robert LeFevre, and Murray Rothbard.