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alexisrt's review
5.0
There's so much here I'm not even sure where to begin with a review, but this was fantastic. I knew some of the basic outlines of our free market obsession, but this gave me a much more comprehensive and detailed overview from manufacturers' first efforts to block child labor and wage laws in the Progressive Era. Oreskes and Conway delve into not only details of what various right wing and libertarian economists thought, but how business leaders and think tanks translated and interpreted their messages for the public and politicians, hammering them with propaganda, until the process resulted in Ronald Reagan.
This book is not anticapitalist per se (as the authors themselves say, they are not Naomi Klein) but they make the very important argument that it is not inevitable that American capitalism works the way it does. Our specific implementation of capitalism is because of over a century of business leaders and economists claiming our only two choices were the "free market" or socialism, and that all freedom was contingent on the market. There can never be a middle way. It's a lie, but it's one all conservative economists have been preaching.
This book is not anticapitalist per se (as the authors themselves say, they are not Naomi Klein) but they make the very important argument that it is not inevitable that American capitalism works the way it does. Our specific implementation of capitalism is because of over a century of business leaders and economists claiming our only two choices were the "free market" or socialism, and that all freedom was contingent on the market. There can never be a middle way. It's a lie, but it's one all conservative economists have been preaching.
buchino's review against another edition
3.5
Exhaustive review of capitalism through a US-centric lens. Argues that capitalism isn’t inherently bad, but needs more stringent regulation.
lunarcatfish's review
challenging
informative
slow-paced
3.75
Incredibly well researched, but towards the end there were some statements that frustrated me -- it felt very strange for such a meticulously researched book to cite a livestrong article and a Fortune article. Perhaps there's a reason for choosing those sources...
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