A view of the Presidio yacht club and marina from the heights of Battery Yates, in Marin County, Calif. 

Author, journalist and historian Brian Doherty was found dead at a Marin County park last week, Reason Magazine announced in an obituary on Saturday. Doherty was a senior editor at Reason and an influential libertarian historian. He was 57.

Doherty was found dead Friday morning at Battery Yates in Sausalito, the magazine announced. He presumably fell on Thursday evening after attending an art gathering that was held on top of the park’s historic concrete military defense sites. The battery is part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area.

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The author is best known for his books on the history of the libertarian movement, including his 2008 masterwork “Radicals for Capitalism: A Freewheeling History of the Modern American Libertarian Movement.” 

“Brian was the historian of the libertarian movement,” Reason Foundation President David Nott said in Doherty’s obituary. “He lovingly and comprehensively portrayed the colorful characters in the libertarian world.”

FILE: Brian Doherty speaks at a conference in Chantilly, Va.

Doherty was born in Brooklyn in 1968 but was raised primarily in Florida, according to Reason. He moved to California in the 1990s after majoring in journalism at the University of Florida, and soon met the Cacophony Society, a group of urban anarchists that eventually inspired events like SantaCon and Burning Man. The group influenced much of Doherty’s own work, including his 2006 book “This Is Burning Man: The Rise of a New American Underground.” 

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“Brian’s contributions to the art scenes in L.A. and San Francisco were monumental,” activist and author Chicken John Rinaldi, who was Doherty’s close friend, said in his obituary. “His passing leaves so many people and so many systems impoverished.”

Don't let Google decide who you trust.

In recent years, Doherty had become physically limited, and suffered from ailments that required him to walk with a cane. These conditions are likely what led to his accidental fall, Reason wrote. 

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