Great ideas are timeless. Last week Glenn Beck devoted an entire show to F. A. Hayek’s 1944 classic The Road Serfdom. In just a few hours this book went from no where to the top of the Amazon best seller list. Not long after that the publisher had one to three month backlog.Why the interest in the writing of a defunct economist from the 40s? Simple, people are hungry to arm the selves to battle the tyranny of central government. For example, consider the interest in Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged. (see posts on that book) Hayek who was widely criticised during his time is one of the leaders of resurgence of classic liberalism and the power of free markets and individual liberty. Hayek won (earned) a Nobel Prize for economics in 1974. He was a colleague and intellectual soul mate of the most well known advocate of markets, Milton Friedman. Hayek has been studied by academics as well as leaders such as Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan.
Reader Digest published a condensed version of this which readily available on line. There is a also a cartoon version to wet your appetite for this classic. Our friends at the Heritage Foundation published this entry on their blog plus part of Glenn Beck’s show.
- The Professor
PS – You may want to check out the rap video, Fear the Boom and Bust, on Hayek v Keynes to further wet your appetite.
Related Posts:
Email To A Friend
Print This Article
Loading ...
