David Warsh places Richard Musgrave's work in the context of one of the more interesting discussions in economics. Economists are increasingly speaking of goods being either rival or nonrival rather than public or private. The distiction between rival and nonrival deals essentially with the question of whether the good can be enjoyed by more than one person at once. The pen in my pocket is rival. The movie I saw on the screen in the theater a couple weeks ago was nonrival. Musgrave originated the use of that terminology, but it took a while for it to enter general use.
Go read it at Warsh's site, Economic Principals. A Week, Long Ago, in Biarritz
Great topic!
For those who like the more political side of things, these debated between Musgrave and Buchannan might be interesting:
Two Visions of the State
http://www.cesifo.de/portal/page?_pageid=36,164276&_dad=portal&_schema=PORTAL&item_link=lect-buchanan-musgrave1998.htm