The Great Persuasion: Reinventing Free Markets since the Depression

The Great Persuasion traces the development of free-market economic thought from the 1930s through the postwar period. Through extensive archival research, Burgin examines the activities and influence of the Mont Pèlerin Society, an organization of economists and intellectuals founded by Friedrich Hayek in 1947. The book centers on key figures including Hayek, Milton Friedman, and Ludwig von Mises as they worked to rehabilitate market economics in the face of the Great Depression and rising government intervention. Burgin documents their evolving arguments about markets, morality, and the role of the state, revealing tensions and transformations within the free-market movement. Burgin reconstructs the intellectual networks and scholarly debates that helped shift Western economic thinking from New Deal-style policies toward market liberalism. His account moves from interwar Vienna through the University of Chicago to the corridors of political power in the 1970s and 80s. At its core, this intellectual history explores how ideas move from academic theory into mainstream politics and policy. The book raises questions about the relationship between economic doctrine and moral philosophy, and the ways intellectual movements adapt their principles to changing circumstances.

Readers describe this as a detailed intellectual history of free-market economics focusing on Friedrich Hayek, Milton Friedman, and the Mont Pelerin Society. Many note its balanced, non-partisan approach to examining how free market ideas gained prominence. Liked: - Clear writing style that makes complex economic theory accessible - Thorough research and extensive use of primary sources - Nuanced portrayal of tensions between different free market thinkers - Strong historical context for current economic debates Disliked: - Some sections become too academic and dense - Limited discussion of opposing economic viewpoints - Focus remains narrow, primarily on select key figures - Final chapters feel rushed compared to earlier detail Ratings: Goodreads: 4.1/5 (89 ratings) Amazon: 4.3/5 (22 ratings) JStor: "Meticulous research but occasionally dry" - Review by Jennifer Burns Reviews emphasize the book's value for understanding the intellectual foundations of modern economic conservatism while noting it requires patient reading through academic prose.

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🌟 Author Angus Burgin spent eight years researching and writing this book, including extensive time in the personal archives of Friedrich Hayek and Milton Friedman 🌟 The book won the 2013 Joseph J. Spengler Prize from the History of Economics Society for the best book about the history of economics 🌟 The Mont Pèlerin Society, which features prominently in the book, began with just 39 members in 1947 but grew to include eight future Nobel Prize winners in economics 🌟 Despite being intellectual allies, Friedrich Hayek and Milton Friedman had fundamentally different views on methodology—Hayek preferred abstract theory while Friedman emphasized empirical testing 🌟 The book reveals how many early free-market advocates were initially skeptical of corporations and big business, viewing them as potential threats to competition—a stance that would later shift dramatically