Reddit mentions of Men Against the State: The Expositors of Individualist Anarchism, 1827-1908

I recommend Men Against the State: The Expositors of Individualist Anarchism, 1827-1908. If you want to know how and why libertarianism was created by socialists.

I think your labels are pretty arbitrary, as labels tend to be and none of them would be self applied except your own. But I have to ask, if actual socialists want to take over the gov't and give the power back to the people - do you mean individual people, or some sort of government called
"the people"? You guys say the failed history of socialism shouldn't concern us, so I want to be clear: who do you mean by "the people". And what power specifically are you talking about?

And lastly, how do you stop capitalism without a state? How do you control the actions of individuals trading together for profit on a macro or micro scale without resorting to state coercion?

For introductory purposes, it's best to read surveys of the literature and tradition, simply because there are many anarchist schools of thought and people often direct you to read books from the school to which they are sympathetic.

I recommend starting off with [Peter Kropotkin's 1909 essay for Encyclopedia Britannica on Anarchism] (http://dwardmac.pitzer.edu/Anarchist_Archives/kropotkin/britanniaanarchy.html).

Next, I'd recommend [Men Against the State] (http://www.amazon.com/Men-Against-State-Expositors-Individualist/dp/0879260068), a historical overview of the American Anarchist traditions, which were a kind of anarchist melting pot but admittedly skewed individualist (you could probably find a free pdf of this quickly).

These books should provide good introductions to various schools. After that, just pick up the books in whatever school suits your fancy and enjoy.

My biased recommendations are Wolff's In Defense of Anarchism and Huemer's The Problem of Political Authority. They are both works done by conteporary academic philosophers but written simply and without jargon.

edit: It would be wonderful if whoever downvoted my comment could explain why.