History

Masters of the Universe: Hayek, Friedman, and the Birth of Neoliberal Politics - Updated Edition

    Foreword by
  • Daniel Stedman Jones

How radical free-market ideas achieved mainstream dominance in postwar America and Britain

Paperback

Price:
$23.95/£20.00
ISBN:
Published:
Jul 21, 2014
2014
Pages:
440
Size:
6 x 9.25 in.
Illus:
1 table.
Main_subject:
History
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Based on archival research and interviews with leading participants in the movement, Masters of the Universe traces the ascendancy of neoliberalism from the academy of interwar Europe to supremacy under Reagan and Thatcher and in the decades since. Daniel Stedman Jones argues that there was nothing inevitable about the victory of free-market politics. Far from being the story of the simple triumph of right-wing ideas, the neoliberal breakthrough was contingent on the economic crises of the 1970s and the acceptance of the need for new policies by the political left. This edition includes a new foreword in which the author addresses the relationship between intellectual history and the history of politics and policy.

Fascinating, important, and timely, this is a book for anyone who wants to understand the history behind the Anglo-American love affair with the free market, as well as the origins of the current economic crisis.


Awards and Recognition

  • Finalist for the 2014 Presidents’ Book Award, Western Social Science Association
  • Shortlisted for the 2012 Gladstone Prize, Royal Historical Society